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Asyncos CVE-2021-1566

HIGH
Improper Following of a Certificate's Chain of Trust (CWE-296)
2021-06-16 psirt@cisco.com
7.4
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
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Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A04:2025 - Cryptographic Failures
ASVS 5.0
V12 - Secure Communication Certificate chain validation
Impact

CVSS score of 7.4 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, high complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

This vulnerability can be exploited remotely over the network. Successful exploitation could compromise the high-severity affected system.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
No patch listed yet 0.7% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAI

A vulnerability in the Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) for Endpoints integration of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) and Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.4), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. No vendor patch available.

RemediationAI

No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Apply vendor patches when available. Implement network segmentation and monitoring as interim mitigations.

Affects your stack

Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-296. A vulnerability in the Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) for Endpoints integration of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) and Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to intercept traffic between an affected device and the AMP servers. This vulnerability is due to improper certificate validation when an affected device establishes TLS connections. A man-in-the-middle attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted TLS packet to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to spoof a trusted host and then extract sensitive information or alter certain API requests. Affected products include: Cisco Email Security Appliance, Cisco Asyncos, Cisco Web Security Appliance.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 7.4 HIGH
AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
High
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

DescriptionNVD

A vulnerability in the Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) for Endpoints integration of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) and Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to intercept traffic between an affected device and the AMP servers. This vulnerability is due to improper certificate validation when an affected device establishes TLS connections. A man-in-the-middle attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted TLS packet to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to spoof a trusted host and then extract sensitive information or alter certain API requests.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.7%
Top 52% exploitable
Data Quality
2 sources
Confidence: Low

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.7%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

38
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: +1
CVSS: +37
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.

Affected Products (CPE)NVD

cpe:2.3:a:cisco:email_security_appliance:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asyncos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:cisco:email_security_appliance:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asyncos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:cisco:email_security_appliance:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asyncos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:cisco:web_security_appliance:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asyncos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:cisco:web_security_appliance:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asyncos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:cisco:web_security_appliance:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:cisco:asyncos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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