dbcve.org
Email Security ApplianceApplication · Cisco

CVE-2016-1423

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-10-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A vulnerability in the display of email messages in the Messages in Quarantine (MIQ) view in Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a user to click a malicious link in the MIQ view. The malicious link could be used to facilitate a cross-site scripting (XSS) or HTML injection attack. More Information: CSCuz02235. Known Affected Releases: 8.0.2-069. Known Fixed Releases: 9.1.1-038 9.7.2-047.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A cross-site scripting (XSS) and HTML injection vulnerability exists in the Messages in Quarantine (MIQ) view of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Email Security Appliance. An unauthenticated, remote attacker can embed malicious links or scripts into email messages that get quarantined. When legitimate users view these quarantined messages through the MIQ interface, the malicious content executes in their browsers, potentially allowing session hijacking, credential theft, or further phishing attacks.

MitigationUpgrade Cisco ESA to fixed releases 9.1.1-038 or 9.7.2-047. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, restrict access to the quarantine management interface to trusted users and implement additional browser-side XSS filters as a compensating control.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Email Security ApplianceApplication
Affected:= 8.9.0= 8.9.1-000= 8.9.2-032= 9.0.0= 9.0.0-212= 9.0.0-461= 9.0.5-000= 9.1.0= 9.1.0-011= 9.1.0-032= 9.1.0-101

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check the ESA version
    Log into the Cisco ESA web interface and navigate to the System Administration > Software Update page, or use the CLI command 'version' to display the installed AsyncOS version.
    Affected if The displayed version matches one of the affected versions: 8.9.0, 8.9.1-000, 8.9.2-032, 9.0.0, 9.0.0-212, 9.0.0-461, 9.0.5-000, 9.1.0, 9.1.0-011, 9.1.0-032, or 9.1.0-101.
  2. Confirm MIQ feature is enabled
    In the ESA web interface, navigate to the Messages in Quarantine (MIQ) section under the Quarantine menu, or use the CLI command 'quarantine status' to check if the quarantine feature is active.
    Affected if The MIQ feature is enabled and operational on the appliance.
  3. Verify quarantine management access
    In the ESA web interface, go to System Administration > User Users or the Local Users configuration to review which user roles have access to the quarantine management interface.
    Affected if Any user role other than administrator has access to view quarantined messages through the MIQ interface.
  4. Check external access to quarantine interface
    Review the ESA listener configuration and network settings to determine if the quarantine web interface is accessible from external networks or the internet.
    Affected if The MIQ interface is reachable from untrusted networks or the internet without VPN or IP restrictions.

You are affected if your Cisco ESA runs an affected version listed above AND the Messages in Quarantine feature is enabled with any user access to view quarantined messages.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Cisco ESA to fixed releases 9.1.1-038 or 9.7.2-047. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, restrict access to the quarantine management interface to trusted users and implement additional browser-side XSS filters as a compensating control.

Fix this in Email Security Appliance Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,480
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,968.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1423 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-1423 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data