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Email Security ApplianceApplication · Cisco

CVE-2017-3800

MEDIUM · 5.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-01-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
67/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 the content scanning engine of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliances (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass configured message or content filters on the device. Affected Products: This vulnerability affects all releases prior to the first fixed release of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliances, both virtual and hardware appliances, if the software is configured to apply a message filter or content filter to incoming email attachments. The vulnerability is not limited to any specific rules or actions for a message filter or content filter. More Information: CSCuz16076. Known Affected Releases: 9.7.1-066 9.7.1-HP2-207 9.8.5-085. Known Fixed Releases: 10.0.1-083 10.0.1-087.

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 content scanning engine of Cisco AsyncOS for Email Security Appliances allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to bypass configured message or content filters when processing incoming email attachments. This bypass occurs due to improper handling of attachment scanning, potentially allowing malicious content to pass through filters undetected.

MitigationUpgrade Cisco AsyncOS Software to a fixed release (10.0.1-083 or later) on all affected ESA devices configured with message or content filters for incoming email attachments.

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:= 9.7.1-066= 9.7.1-hp2-207= 9.8.5-085

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
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/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. Identify the Cisco Email Security Appliance
    Log into the ESA web interface or CLI and verify the device model. In the CLI, run 'version' or 'show version' to see the appliance model.
    Affected if The device is not a Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA)
  2. Check the installed AsyncOS version
    In the ESA CLI, run the 'version' command or 'show version' to display the installed AsyncOS software version. Alternatively, navigate to Network Operations Center > Software Update in the web interface.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 9.7.1-066, 9.7.1-hp2-207, or 9.8.5-085
  3. Verify if message or content filters are configured
    In the ESA web interface, go to Mail Policies > Incoming Content Filters to see if any content filters are defined. In the CLI, use 'filters' or 'show filters' command.
    Affected if No message or content filters are configured for incoming email (not affected)
  4. Confirm attachment scanning is enabled in the filters
    Examine the content filter configurations to determine if any filters include attachment scanning actions such as 'Scan Attachment', 'Match Attachment', or attachment-related conditions.
    Affected if Content filters that scan email attachments are configured for incoming messages

The environment is affected only if the device is a Cisco ESA running exactly version 9.7.1-066, 9.7.1-hp2-207, or 9.8.5-085 AND has message or content filters configured that perform attachment scanning on incoming email.

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 AsyncOS Software to a fixed release (10.0.1-083 or later) on all affected ESA devices configured with message or content filters for incoming email attachments.

Fix this in Email Security Appliance Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
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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-2017-3800 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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