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No exploitation reportedFix available

CVE-2024-20401

No exploitation reported by the sources we read.

  • Published2024-07-17
  • Fixed in15.5.1-055
  • WeaknessCWE-36

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

A vulnerability in the content scanning and message filtering features of Cisco Secure Email Gateway could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to overwrite arbitrary files on the underlying operating system. This vulnerability is due to improper handling of email attachments when file analysis and content filters are enabled. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending an email that contains a crafted attachment through an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to replace any file on the underlying file system. The attacker could then perform any of the following actions: add users with root privileges, modify the device configuration, execute arbitrary code, or cause a permanent denial of service (DoS) condition on the affected device. Note: Manual intervention is required to recover from the DoS condition. Customers are advised to contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) to help recover a device in this condition.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2024-07-1717:15CVE publishedNVD

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 18:48 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2024-20401?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2024-20401?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

CISA-ADP · NVD
Cisco secure email
BranchAffectedFixed in
15.5< 15.5.1-05515.5.1-055
Cisco secure email gateway
BranchAffectedFixed in
15.5< 15.5.1-05515.5.1-055

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Fix

  1. Update Cisco secure email to 15.5.1-055

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
none listed
PoC-in-GitHub

Sources

  • NVDCVE recordread 2026-10-23
  • CISA-ADPSSVC decisionnone2024-07-18
  • OpenCVESSVC decisionnone—
  • CNACVSS 3.19.8read 2026-10-23
  • CNAweakness (CWE)CWE-36read 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score2.3 %2026-10-22

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2024-07-17
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Analyzed

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2024-20401?

A vulnerability in the content scanning and message filtering features of Cisco Secure Email Gateway could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to overwrite arbitrary files on the underlying operating system. This vulnerability is due to improper handling of email attachments when file analysis and content filters are enabled. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending an email that contains a crafted attachment through an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to replace any file on the underlying file system. The attacker could then perform any of the following actions: add users with root privileges, modify the device configuration, execute arbitrary code, or cause a permanent denial of service (DoS) condition on the affected device. Note: Manual intervention is required to recover from the DoS condition. Customers are advised to contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) to help recover a device in this condition.

Is CVE-2024-20401 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2024-20401 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 2.3% on 2026-10-22, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2024-20401?

CVE-2024-20401 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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