Vulnerabilities

Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Secure Email Gateway contains a SQL injection flaw (CWE-89) in its email parsing logic, caused by insufficient validation of message content. An unauthenticated, remote attacker can trigger it simply by sending a crafted email containing malicious SQL statements through an affected gateway, with no user interaction required. Successful exploitation allows arbitrary SQL execution that escalates to arbitrary operating-system command execution with root privileges, fully compromising the appliance and all mail flowing through it. Any organization running an affected version of Cisco Secure Email Gateway is impacted, and because these appliances sit on the inbound mail path they are inherently reachable over the network. There is no known public proof-of-concept, the flaw is not on the CISA KEV list, and no in-the-wild exploitation has been reported to date, though the CVSS 9.8 rating makes patching urgent.

Do: Upgrade to the fixed AsyncOS release listed in the corresponding Cisco PSIRT advisory as soon as possible, since the flaw is unauthenticated, requires no user interaction, and yields root. Until patched, apply any Cisco-documented workarounds and tightly restrict which hosts can submit mail to the gateway where operationally feasible. Review mail and system logs on these appliances for anomalies such as SQL errors in parsing, unexpected processes, or unexplained outbound connections that could indicate exploitation attempts.

In Cisco Talos Intelligence for Enterprise Security Cloud versions below 1.0.3, a user that holds a role with the get_talos_enrichment capability could send a crafted request to the Talos intelligence enrichment Representational State Transfer (REST) API endpoint and cause the instance to make an outbound request to an attacker-controlled server. The request could expose tokens that compromise all relevant data and system integrity in the Splunk instance. The vulnerability is possible because the Talos intelligence enrichment REST endpoint accepts the destination for authenticated Splunk management requests from request data. For more information see Deploy Cisco Talos Intelligence for Splunk Enterprise Security (https://help.splunk.com/en/splunk-enterprise-security-8/user-guide/8.0/introduction/deploy-cisco-talos-intelligence-for-splunk-enterprise-security-cloud-only) in the Splunk documentation.

CVE-2026-20079 is an authentication bypass (CWE-288) in the web interface of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software, caused by an improper system process created at boot time. An unauthenticated, remote attacker can exploit it by sending crafted HTTP requests to the FMC web interface, which allows the execution of script files and commands on the device. A successful exploit grants the attacker root access to the underlying operating system, giving full control of the management platform (CVSS 3.1: 10.0, network-exploitable, no privileges or user interaction required, scope changed). The flaw affects Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) and Security Cloud Control (SCC) Firewall Management deployments. Cisco has confirmed the vulnerability is being exploited in active attacks, it carries a 35.9% EPSS score (98th percentile), and CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-09-09.

Do: Upgrade FMC (and SCC Firewall Management tenants) to the fixed release specified in Cisco's advisory, prioritizing internet-exposed or externally reachable management interfaces; CISA KEV action applies to federal agencies under BOD 26-04. Until patching, restrict FMC web interface access to trusted management networks and VPNs and check devices for signs of exploitation such as unexpected script execution, unfamiliar processes, or root-level changes. Triage per CISA's Forensics Triage Requirements if compromise is suspected.