CVE-2020-3548
MEDIUMDescription
A vulnerability in the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol implementation of Cisco AsyncOS software for Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause high CPU usage on an affected device, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to inefficient processing of incoming TLS traffic. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a series of crafted TLS packets to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to trigger a prolonged state of high CPU utilization. The affected device would still be operative, but response time and overall performance may be degraded.There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.
How to fix
No published remediation has been found for this vulnerability's affected products yet.
Mitigation guidance may be in the linked vendor advisories in the References section below.
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CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Exploit Intelligence
Moderate risk: more likely to be exploited than 53% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-407 vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2020-27223 | Medium | 5.2 | 78% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2022-36021 | Medium | 5.5 | 60% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2021-33582 | High | 7.5 | 3.1% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-43485 | High | 7.5 | 3.1% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-43484 | High | 7.5 | 2.9% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2016-10396 | High | 7.5 | 2.9% | - | - |
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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2025-07-31.