CVE-2022-20664 | Cisco Email Security Appliance and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager Information Disclosure Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the web management interface of Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager, formerly Cisco Security Management Appliance (SMA), and Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to retrieve sensitive information from a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) external authentication server connected to an affected device. This vulnerability is due to a lack of proper input sanitization while querying the external authentication server. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted query through an external authentication web page. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to gain access to sensitive information, including user credentials from the external authentication server. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need valid operator-level (or higher) credentials.

Published: 2022-06-15 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-20664 is rated Moderate Risk (51.2/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.95%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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-2022-20664

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 2026-06-15 0.37% 0.95% +0.58%
2 2025-11-21 0.21% 0.37% +0.17%
3 2025-11-18 0.21%

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-20664

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.7 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.1 4.0 [email protected]
7.7 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.1 4.0 [email protected]
3.5 2.0 LOW
AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
6.8 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-20664

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-20664

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cisco email_security_appliance < 14.0.2-020 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:email_security_appliance:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco secure_email_and_web_manager < 13.6.2-090 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_email_and_web_manager:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco secure_email_and_web_manager >= 14.1, < 14.1.0-227 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_email_and_web_manager:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-20664

cvelogic Threat Intelligence