CVE-2017-12218 Security feature bypass in Cisco Email Security Appliance
An unauthenticated remote attacker can bypass malware scanning on Cisco Email Security Appliances by sending crafted EML attachments, delivering malware to end users.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2017-12218?
CVE-2017-12218 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Asyncos, published on 7 Sep 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A vulnerability in the malware detection functionality within Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliances (ESAs) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an email attachment containing malware to be delivered to the end user. The vulnerability is due to the failure of AMP to scan certain EML attachments that could contain malware. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending an email with a crafted EML attachment through the targeted device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass the configured ESA email message and content filtering and allow the malware to be delivered to the end user. Vulnerable Products: This vulnerability affects Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco ESA, both virtual and hardware appliances, that are configured with message or content filters to scan incoming email attachments on the ESA. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCuz81533.
Weakness: CWE-20
Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-12218?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Cisco Asyncos.
How do I fix CVE-2017-12218?
No fix has been published for CVE-2017-12218 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2017-12218 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12218 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Asyncos
- CVE-2025-20393 Cisco Multiple Products Improper Input Validation
- CVE-2026-76519 Cisco Secure Email Gateway Relative Path Traversal
- CVE-2026-76461 Cisco Secure Email Gateway SQL Injection
- CVE-2024-20435 Command injection in Cisco Secure Web Appliance
- CVE-2019-15956 Cisco Web Security Appliance Unauthorized Device Reset Vulnerability
Sources
Also known as GHSA-rwch-g2hc-94xv.