# CVE-2022-20868: Hardcoded credentials in Cisco Secure Email

> Authenticated attackers can exploit hardcoded encryption keys to impersonate users and execute commands with elevated privileges on Cisco email and web security appliances.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 Nov 2022
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-24wm-cqx7-gv2j

## What is CVE-2022-20868?

CVE-2022-20868 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Asyncos, published on 3 Nov 2022. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Email Security Appliance, Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager and Cisco Secure Web Appliance could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to elevate privileges on an affected system. The attacker needs valid credentials to exploit this vulnerability. 

This vulnerability is due to the use of a hardcoded value to encrypt a token used for certain APIs calls . An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the device and sending a crafted HTTP request. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to impersonate another valid user and execute commands with the privileges of that user account.

Weakness: CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials), CWE-321 (Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-20868?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Asyncos.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-20868?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-20868 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-20868 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20868 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-2022-20868 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-20868 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Asyncos, published on 3 Nov 2022. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20868 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-2022-20868/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20868/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-20868
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-20868
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-20868

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20868/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.