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Web Security ApplianceApplication · Cisco

CVE-2016-6469

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-12-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 HTTP URL parsing of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) vulnerability due to the proxy process unexpectedly restarting. More Information: CSCvb04312. Known Affected Releases: 9.0.1-162 9.1.1-074. Known Fixed Releases: 10.1.0-129 9.1.2-010.

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 vulnerability in the HTTP URL parsing component of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause a denial of service by triggering an unexpected restart of the proxy process. The issue stems from improper handling of specially crafted HTTP URLs.

MitigationUpgrade Cisco WSA to fixed release 10.1.0-129 or 9.1.2-010 to patch the HTTP URL parsing vulnerability and prevent DoS attacks.

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
Web Security ApplianceApplication
Affected:= 9.0.1-162= 9.1.1-074

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

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. Identify Cisco WSA version
    Log into the WSA web GUI, go to Management Appliance > System Administration > General, or use CLI command 'version' to display the installed AsyncOS version and build number
    Affected if The displayed version is 9.0.1-162 or 9.1.1-074, or falls below 9.1.2-010 (if 9.1.x) or below 10.1.0-129 (if 10.x)
  2. Confirm proxy service is enabled
    In WSA GUI, navigate to Security Services > Web Proxy to verify the proxy service is turned on
    Affected if The proxy is enabled and the version check above shows an affected version

A user is affected if they are running Cisco WSA version 9.0.1-162 or 9.1.1-074 (or any version below the fixed releases) with the web proxy service enabled.

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 WSA to fixed release 10.1.0-129 or 9.1.2-010 to patch the HTTP URL parsing vulnerability and prevent DoS attacks.

Fix this in Web Security Appliance Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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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-2016-6469 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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