# CVE-2016-1481: Denial of service in Cisco AsyncOS through 9.7.0-125

> Unauthenticated remote attackers can cause a denial of service on Cisco Email Security Appliances if specific message filter rules are configured.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 28 Oct 2016
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rv7c-p5pc-3252

## What is CVE-2016-1481?

CVE-2016-1481 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Email Security Appliance, published on 28 Oct 2016. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the email message filtering feature of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliances could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected 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 that contains certain rules. More Information: CSCux59873. Known Affected Releases: 8.5.6-106 9.1.0-032 9.7.0-125. Known Fixed Releases: 9.1.1-038 9.7.1-066.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-1481?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Email Security Appliance.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-1481?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-1481 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-1481 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-1481 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Email Security Appliance

- [CVE-2022-20798](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20798/): Cisco Email Security Appliance and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager External Authentication Bypass Vulnerability (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2015-6291](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-6291/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2022-20664](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20664/): Cisco Email Security Appliance and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager Information Disclosure Vulnerability (high 7.7)
- [CVE-2022-20960](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20960/): Denial of service in Cisco Secure Email (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2018-0419](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0419/): Security feature bypass in Email Security Appliance (ESA) (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-1481 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-1481 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Email Security Appliance, published on 28 Oct 2016. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-1481 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Email Security Appliance. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1481/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1481/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-1481
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-1481
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-1481

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1481/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.