Cisco Secure Email Gateway Vulnerability Exploited in Attacks (CVE-2026-76461)
Cisco Secure Email Gateway flaw CVE-2026-76461 enables root command execution via crafted email SQL injection and is actively exploited, added to CISA KEV.
Cisco disclosed critical vulnerability CVE-2026-76461 in Secure Email Gateway, caused by insufficient validation in email parsing logic, allowing arbitrary SQL statements that lead to root-level command execution. CISA added the flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog with a patch deadline of September 17, 2026. The bug affects all SEG deployments regardless of configuration, with fixed releases including 15.5.5-014, 16.0.4-302, and 16.5.0-780. Defenders can check mail_logs for anomalous 'COPY ... TO PROGRAM' SQL statements to detect compromise.
- CVE-2026-76461 actively exploited; CISA KEV patch deadline September 17, 2026
- SQL injection in email parsing leads to root command execution
- Affects ESA, Secure Email Cloud Gateway, and Secure Email Essentials
- Detection: grep mail_logs for anomalous 'COPY ... TO PROGRAM' statements
- Qualys QID 317880 available to identify vulnerable assets
- CVEs
- CVE-2026-76461
Vulnerabilities mentioned
All| CVE | Vulnerability | CVSS | EPSS | Signals | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-76461 | Unauthenticated SQL Injection to Root RCE in Cisco Secure Email Gateway | 9.8 | 40% | KEVPoC ×3 | KEV |
From the original article
2 min read at threatprotect.qualys.comCisco released a security advisory about a critical-severity vulnerability in Cisco Secure Email Gateway. Tracked as CVE-2026-76461, the vulnerability is being exploited in the wild. Successful exploitation of the vulnerability may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges on the underlying operating system.
By Diksha Ojha · threatprotect.qualys.com
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