# CVE-2023-20212: Denial of service in Cisco Secure Endpoint

> An unauthenticated remote attacker can cause a denial of service by submitting a crafted AutoIt file to ClamAV, forcing the scanning process to restart.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/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:** Yes
- **Published:** 18 Aug 2023
- **Updated:** 2 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2023-20212, GHSA-25vx-3h3c-mwv8

## What is CVE-2023-20212?

CVE-2023-20212 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Secure Endpoint, published on 18 Aug 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the AutoIt module of ClamAV could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. 

 This vulnerability is due to a logic error in the memory management of an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted AutoIt file to be scanned by ClamAV on the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the ClamAV scanning process to restart unexpectedly, resulting in a DoS condition.

Weakness: CWE-825 (Expired Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-20212?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Cisco Secure Endpoint, Cisco Secure Endpoint Private Cloud.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-20212?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2023-20212 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-20212 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Secure Endpoint

- [CVE-2023-20032](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20032/): Memory corruption in Cisco Secure Endpoint (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-20770](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20770/): ClamAV CHM File Parsing Denial of Service Vulnerability Affecting Cisco Products: April 2022 (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2026-20348](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20348/): ClamAV XAR File Format Processing Memory Corruption Vulnerability (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2026-20213](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20213/): ClamAV PE File Format Processing Out-of-Bounds Memory Corruption Vulnerability (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2026-20214](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20214/): ClamAV FSG File Format Processing Out-of-Bounds Memory Corruption Vulnerability (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-20212 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-20212 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Secure Endpoint, published on 18 Aug 2023. 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-2023-20212 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Secure Endpoint. 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-2023-20212/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20212/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-20212
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20212
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-20212

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20212/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.