# CVE-2017-12303: Security feature bypass in Cisco Web Security Appliance

> An unauthenticated remote attacker can bypass AMP file filtering rules on Cisco WSA by sending crafted archived email attachments due to incorrect hash calculations.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 16 Nov 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-3hr9-5q4c-rq22

## What is CVE-2017-12303?

CVE-2017-12303 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Asyncos, published on 16 Nov 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) file filtering feature of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass a configured AMP file filtering rule. The file types affected are zipped or archived file types. The vulnerability is due to incorrect and different file hash values when AMP scans the file. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted email file attachment through the targeted device. An exploit could allow the attacker to bypass a configured AMP file filter. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvf52943.

Weakness: CWE-358 (Improperly Implemented Security Check for Standard)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-12303?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Asyncos.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-12303?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-12303 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-12303 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12303 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Asyncos

- [CVE-2025-20393](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20393/): Cisco Multiple Products Improper Input Validation (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-76519](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76519/): Cisco Secure Email Gateway Relative Path Traversal (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-76461](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76461/): Cisco Secure Email Gateway SQL Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-20435](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-20435/): Command injection in Cisco Secure Web Appliance (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-15956](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-15956/): Cisco Web Security Appliance Unauthorized Device Reset Vulnerability (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-12303 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-12303 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Asyncos, published on 16 Nov 2017. 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-2017-12303 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Asyncos. 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-2017-12303/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12303/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-12303
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-12303
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-12303

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12303/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.