{"schemaVersion":3,"id":"CVE-2018-15453","aliases":[],"status":"published","duplicateOf":null,"title":null,"description":"A vulnerability in the Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Decryption and Verification or S/MIME Public Key Harvesting features of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to corrupt system memory. A successful exploit could cause the filtering process to unexpectedly reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition on the device. The vulnerability is due to improper input validation of S/MIME-signed emails. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious S/MIME-signed email through a targeted device. If Decryption and Verification or Public Key Harvesting is configured, the filtering process could crash due to memory corruption and restart, resulting in a DoS condition. The software could then resume processing the same S/MIME-signed email, causing the filtering process to crash and restart again. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a permanent DoS condition. This vulnerability may require manual intervention to recover the ESA.","dates":{"published":"2019-01-10T18:00:00.000Z","modified":"2024-11-19T19:18:36.642Z","reserved":null,"kevAdded":[],"kevDue":[]},"cvss":{"headline":{"score":8.6,"severity":"high","version":"3.0","versionLabel":"v3.0","source":"CVE.org","vector":"CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H","computed":false,"selection":"backend-summary"},"metrics":[{"version":"3.0","versionLabel":"v3.0","source":"CVE.org","score":8.6,"severity":"high","vector":"CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H","exploitability":null,"impact":null,"computed":false},{"version":"3.1","versionLabel":"v3.1","source":"NVD","score":8.6,"severity":"high","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H","exploitability":null,"impact":null,"computed":false},{"version":"3.0","versionLabel":"v3.0","source":"NVD","score":8.6,"severity":"high","vector":"CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H","exploitability":null,"impact":null,"computed":false},{"version":"2.0","versionLabel":"v2.0","source":"NVD","score":7.8,"severity":"high","vector":"AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C","exploitability":null,"impact":null,"computed":false}]},"epss":{"probability":0.02287,"percentile":0.82903,"severity":"low","asOf":"2026-10-18T00:00:00.000Z","change":{"pp":0,"baselineDate":"2026-09-18T00:00:00.000Z","baselineScore":0.02287},"history":[{"date":"2026-09-14T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-15T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-16T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-17T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-18T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-19T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-20T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-21T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-22T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-23T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-24T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-25T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-26T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-27T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-28T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-29T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-30T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-01T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-02T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-03T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-04T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-05T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-06T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-07T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-08T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-09T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-10T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-11T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-12T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-13T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-14T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-15T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-16T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-17T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-18T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":0.82903}],"last30":[{"date":"2026-09-18T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-19T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-20T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-21T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-22T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-23T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-24T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-25T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-26T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-27T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-28T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-29T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-09-30T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-01T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-02T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-03T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-04T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-05T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-06T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-07T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-08T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-09T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-10T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-11T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-12T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-13T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-14T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-15T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-16T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-17T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":null},{"date":"2026-10-18T00:00:00.000Z","score":0.02287,"percentile":0.82903}]},"kev":{"state":"not-listed","entries":[],"listedCount":0,"totalCatalogs":3,"catalogs":[{"source":"cisa","label":"CISA","listed":false,"entry":null},{"source":"enisa","label":"ENISA","listed":false,"entry":null},{"source":"circl","label":"CIRCL","listed":false,"entry":null}]},"ransomware":{"state":"none-recorded","sources":[]},"exploits":[],"exploitCount":0,"weaknesses":[{"id":"CWE-20","name":"Improper Input Validation","description":"The product receives input or data, but it does\n        not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the\n        properties that are required to process the data safely and\n        correctly.","type":"weakness","status":"Stable","abstraction":"Class","likelihoodOfExploit":"High","url":"https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/20.html"},{"id":"CWE-787","name":"Out-of-bounds Write","description":"The product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.","type":"weakness","status":"Draft","abstraction":"Base","likelihoodOfExploit":"High","url":"https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/787.html"}],"affected":[{"vendor":"cisco","product":"cisco email security appliance (esa)","name":"Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA)","label":"cisco email security appliance (esa)","ecosystem":null,"cpePart":"a","purl":null,"purlType":null,"versions":[{"text":"n/a","noFixRecorded":false,"fixedIn":null}],"versionsText":"n/a","eol":null,"hubHref":"/vendor/cisco/cisco_email_security_appliance_esa"},{"vendor":"cisco","product":"email_security_appliance_firmware","name":"email security appliance firmware","label":"email_security_appliance_firmware","ecosystem":null,"cpePart":"o","purl":null,"purlType":null,"versions":[{"text":"11.0.1-401","noFixRecorded":false,"fixedIn":null},{"text":"11.1.0-131","noFixRecorded":false,"fixedIn":null}],"versionsText":"11.0.1-401 | 11.1.0-131","eol":null,"hubHref":"/vendor/cisco/email_security_appliance"}],"affectedCount":2,"eol":{"hasEol":false,"count":0},"references":[{"url":"https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20190109-esa-dos","label":"tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20190109-esa-dos","hostname":"tools.cisco.com","tags":["Vendor Advisory","X Refsource CISCO"]},{"url":"http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106511","label":"www.securityfocus.com/bid/106511","hostname":"www.securityfocus.com","tags":["VDB Entry","X Refsource BID","Third Party Advisory"]}],"lineage":{"upstream":[],"downstream":[],"duplicates":[],"related":[]},"timeline":[{"kind":"published","date":"2019-01-10T18:00:00.000Z","label":"Published","detail":"Vulnerability first disclosed.","source":null},{"kind":"modified","date":"2024-11-19T19:18:36.642Z","label":"Last modified","detail":"Vulnerability information updated.","source":null}],"risk":{"score":35,"level":"medium","profile":"Default","thresholds":{"critical":75,"high":50,"medium":25,"low":10}},"meta":{"dataAsOf":"2026-10-19T14:01:50.137Z","stale":false,"partial":false}}