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Cisco Secure Email Gateway RCE (cisco-sa-sma-attack-N9bf4)

critical Nessus Plugin ID 290250

Synopsis

The remote device is missing a vendor-supplied security patch.

Description

According to its self-reported version, Cisco Secure Email Gateway is affected by a remote code execution vulnerability.
 - A vulnerability in the Spam Quarantine feature of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Secure Email Gateway and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary system commands on an affected device with root privileges. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of HTTP requests by the Spam Quarantine feature. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system with root privileges. (CVE-2025-20393)

 Please see the included Cisco BID and Cisco Security Advisory for more information.

Solution

Upgrade to the relevant fixed version referenced in Cisco bug ID CSCws52505

See Also

http://www.nessus.org/u?edb9b75b

https://bst.cloudapps.cisco.com/bugsearch/bug/CSCws52505

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 290250

File Name: cisco-sa-sma-attack-N9bf4.nasl

Version: 1.2

Type: combined

Family: CISCO

Published: 1/16/2026

Updated: 1/17/2026

Supported Sensors: Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Critical

Score: 10.0

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 9

Temporal Score: 7.4

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2025-20393

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 10

Temporal Score: 9.3

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:F/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/a:cisco:email_security_appliance

Required KB Items: Host/AsyncOS/Cisco Email Security Appliance/Version

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 1/15/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 12/17/2025

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability Due Dates: 12/24/2025

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2025-20393

IAVA: 2026-A-0059