High severity · published Nov 18, 2024
CVE-2020-3548
Cisco Email Security Appliance Denial Of Service Vulnerability
7.5
CVSS
0.8%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
A vulnerability in the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol implementation of Cisco AsyncOS software for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause high CPU usage on an affected device, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition.
The vulnerability is due to inefficient processing of incoming TLS traffic. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a series of crafted TLS packets to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to trigger a prolonged state of high CPU utilization. The affected device would still be operative, but response time and overall performance may be degraded.There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.8% · higher than 58% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
CS
Cisco Secure Email · Cisco
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
ES
Email Security Appliance · Cisco
through 13.5.1-277 · source: NVD
SE
Secure Email · Cisco
through 13.5.1-277 · source: CISA
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-3548
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-3548
Vendor Advisory
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-esa-tls-dos-xW53TBhb
More from Cisco Secure Email
10.0
CVE-2025-20393
Cisco Secure Email Gateway and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager Remote Command Execution Vulnerability
9.8
CVE-2026-76519
Cisco Secure Email Gateway Arbitrary File Write Vulnerability
9.8
CVE-2026-76461
Cisco Secure Email Gateway SQL Injection Vulnerability
9.8
CVE-2026-76443
Cisco Secure Email Gateway Security Hardening Release
9.8
CVE-2026-76440
Cisco Secure Email Gateway Security Hardening Release
