Cisco Security Advisory
Cisco Email Security Appliance Header Bypass Vulnerability
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N/E:X/RL:X/RC:X
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A vulnerability in the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) header filtering functionality of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliances (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass configured user filters on the device.
The vulnerability is due to improper handling of a malformed SMTP header in an email received on an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending an email containing a crafted SMTP header. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass the configured ESA content filtering mechanisms, allowing some email clients to display the malformed header information from the email message.
This advisory is available at the following link:
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20171129-esa
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Vulnerable Products
This vulnerability affects Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA). For information about affected software releases, consult the Cisco bug ID at the top of this advisory.Products Confirmed Not Vulnerable
No other Cisco products are currently known to be affected by this vulnerability.
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Customers may elect to configure email authentication mechanisms such as Forged Email Detection (FED), Sender Policy Framework (SPF), Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) checks as a workaround for this vulnerability.
ESA configuration guides are at the following location:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/security/email-security-appliance/products-user-guide-list.html
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For information about fixed software releases, consult the Cisco bug ID(s) at the top of this advisory.
When considering software upgrades, customers are advised to regularly consult the advisories for Cisco products, which are available from the Cisco Security Advisories and Alerts page, to determine exposure and a complete upgrade solution.
In all cases, customers should ensure that the devices to be upgraded contain sufficient memory and confirm that current hardware and software configurations will continue to be supported properly by the new release. If the information is not clear, customers are advised to contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) or their contracted maintenance providers.
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The Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of the vulnerability that is described in this advisory.
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This vulnerability was reported to the Cisco PSIRT by Mai Ngoc Duong.
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To learn about Cisco security vulnerability disclosure policies and publications, see the Security Vulnerability Policy. This document also contains instructions for obtaining fixed software and receiving security vulnerability information from Cisco.
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Version Description Section Status Date 1.4 Set Workarounds to Yes in advisory header. Header Final 2017-December-12 1.3 Added workaround information. Workarounds Final 2017-December-12 1.2 Corrected the source information. Source Final 2017-December-08 1.1 Updated summary and advisory title to more clearly explain vulnerability. Summary, Advisory Title Final 2017-December-08 1.0 Initial public release. - Final 2017-November-29
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