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Vulnerability record · CVE-2022-20868 · published 4 November 2022

CVE-2022-20868: Cisco asyncos hard-coded credentials vulnerability

Cisco · Asyncos

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Email Security Appliance, Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager and Cisco Secure Web Appliance could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to elevate privileges on an affected system. The attacker needs valid credentials to exploit this vulnerability. This vulnerability is due to the use of a hardcoded value to encrypt a token used for certain APIs calls . An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the device and sending a crafted HTTP request. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to impersonate another valid user and execute commands with the privileges of that user account.

8.8 CVSS 3.1 High EPSS 0.74% · top 47.2% CWE-321 · CWE-321CWE-798 · Hard-coded credentials
8.8CVSS 3.1 base score
0.74%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
2References
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Email Security Appliance, Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager and Cisco Secure Web Appliance could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to elevate privileges on an affected system. The attacker needs valid credentials to exploit this vulnerability. This vulnerability is due to the use of a hardcoded value to encrypt a token used for certain APIs calls . An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the device and sending a crafted HTTP request. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to impersonate another valid user and execute commands with the privileges of that user account.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

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Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

10.0CVE-2025-20393Cisco AsyncOS Spam Quarantine HTTP request validation flaw allows root command executionCisco AsyncOS Software for Secure Email Gateway and Secure Email and Web Manager fails to properly validate HTTP requests in the Spam Quarantine feat…KEVEPSS 32%analysed9.8CVE-2026-76461Cisco AsyncOS email parsing SQL injection allows root command executionCisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Secure Email Gateway fails to properly validate email parsing input, allowing crafted email messages containing mali…KEVEPSS 28%analysed8.8CVE-2022-20871Cisco asyncos os command injection vulnerabilityA vulnerability in the web management interface of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Secure Web Appliance, formerly Cisco Web Security Appliance…EPSS 1.9%8.8CVE-2021-1359Cisco web security appliance vulnerabilityA vulnerability in the configuration management of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker…EPSS 1.9%8.8CVE-2019-15956Cisco asyncos improper access control vulnerabilityA vulnerability in the web management interface of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow an authenticated, remote…EPSS 0.98%8.6CVE-2019-1947Cisco email security appliance improper input validation vulnerabilityA vulnerability in the email message filtering feature of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthentica…EPSS 1.9%8.6CVE-2019-1886Cisco asyncos improper input validation vulnerabilityA vulnerability in the HTTPS decryption feature of Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a deni…EPSS 1.3%8.6CVE-2018-15460Cisco asyncos improper input validation vulnerabilityA vulnerability in the email message filtering feature of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliances (ESA) could allow an unauthentic…EPSS 2.5%

Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2022-20868), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.