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CVE-2020-3132

Cisco Email Security Appliance Shortened URL Denial of Service Vulnerability

6.8 Medium

A vulnerability in the email message scanning feature of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a temporary denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to inadequate parsing mechanisms for specific email body components. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious email containing a high number of shortened URLs through an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to consume processing resources, causing a DoS condition on an affected device. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, certain conditions beyond the control of the attacker must occur.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

1.51%Up 0.9 points since Apr 14, 2021
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 6.8

Cisco Email Security Appliance Shortened URL Denial of Service Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the email message scanning feature of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a temporary denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to inadequate parsing mechanisms for specific email body components. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious email containing a high number of shortened URLs through an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to consume processing resources, causing a DoS condition on an affected device. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, certain conditions beyond the control of the attacker must occur.

Record
CVE-2020-3132
CVSS 3.0
6.8 MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness
CWE-400
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-24403 6.8

A vulnerability in the email message scanning feature of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a temporary denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to inadequate parsing mechanisms for specific email body components. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious email containing a high number of shortened URLs through an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to consume processing resources, causing a DoS condition on an affected device. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, certain conditions beyond the control of the attacker must occur.

Record
EUVD-2020-24403
CVSS 3.0
6.8 MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated
2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-xhcj-87mg-4cx4 No score

A vulnerability in the email message scanning feature of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email...

A vulnerability in the email message scanning feature of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a temporary denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to inadequate parsing mechanisms for specific email body components. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious email containing a high number of shortened URLs through an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to consume processing resources, causing a DoS condition on an affected device. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, certain conditions beyond the control of the attacker must occur.

Record
GHSA-xhcj-87mg-4cx4
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 5.9

A vulnerability in the email message scanning feature of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a temporary denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to inadequate parsing mechanisms for specific email body components. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious email containing a high number of shortened URLs through an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to consume processing resources, causing a DoS condition on an affected device. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, certain conditions beyond the control of the attacker must occur.

Record
CVE-2020-3132
CVSS 3.1
5.9 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 3.0
6.8 MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 2.0
7.1 HighAV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
Weakness
CWE-400
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
aliases, publishedEUVD
first indexedCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2020-3132 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.8) in Cisco Email Security Appliance (esa), published February 19, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.51%, the 74th percentile. No source names a fixed version.

References

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