CVE-2016-6465

A vulnerability in the content filtering functionality of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Email Security Appliances and Cisco Web Security Appliances could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass user filters that are configured for an affected device. Affected Products: This vulnerability affects all releases prior to the first fixed release of Cisco AsyncOS Software for both virtual and hardware versions of the following Cisco products: Cisco Email Security Appliances (ESAs) that are configured to use message or content filters that scan incoming email attachments; Cisco Web Security Appliances (WSAs) that are configured to use services that scan accessed web content. More Information: CSCva90076, CSCvb06764. Known Affected Releases: 10.0.0-125 8.5.7-042 9.7.2-047.

Published: 2016-12-14 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2016-6465 is rated Low Risk (30.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.19%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-6465

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-03-30 0.28% 0.19% -0.09%
2 2025-03-29 0.19% 0.28% +0.09%
3 2025-03-17 0.19%

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-6465

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.3 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.8 1.4 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-6465

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-6465

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cisco email_security_appliance 8.5.7-042 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:email_security_appliance:8.5.7-042:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco email_security_appliance 9.7.2-047 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:email_security_appliance:9.7.2-047:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco email_security_appliance 10.0.0-125 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:email_security_appliance:10.0.0-125:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco email_security_appliance 10.0.0-232 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:email_security_appliance:10.0.0-232:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-6465

cvelogic Threat Intelligence