# CVE-2022-20664: Cisco Email Security Appliance and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager Information Disclosure Vulnerability

> Authenticated attackers can retrieve sensitive LDAP credentials from external authentication servers via the web management interface.

- **Severity:** High 7.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Jun 2022
- **Updated:** 6 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-33hj-36q7-m72x

## What is CVE-2022-20664?

CVE-2022-20664 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Email Security Appliance, published on 15 Jun 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the web management interface of Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager, formerly Cisco Security Management Appliance (SMA), and Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to retrieve sensitive information from a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) external authentication server connected to an affected device. This vulnerability is due to a lack of proper input sanitization while querying the external authentication server. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted query through an external authentication web page. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to gain access to sensitive information, including user credentials from the external authentication server. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need valid operator-level (or higher) credentials.

Weakness: CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor), CWE-497 (Exposure of Sensitive System Information to an Unauthorized Control Sphere)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-20664?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Cisco Email Security Appliance, Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-20664?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-20664 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-20664 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20664 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-2022-20960](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)
- [CVE-2016-1480](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1480/): Security feature bypass in Cisco AsyncOS through WSA10.0.0-000 (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-20664 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-20664 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Email Security Appliance, published on 15 Jun 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20664 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-2022-20664/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20664/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-20664
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-20664
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-20664

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20664/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.