CVE-2023-20120 | Cisco Secure Email Gateway, Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager, and Cisco Secure Web Appliance Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerabilities

Multiple vulnerabilities in the web-based management interface of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager; Cisco Secure Email Gateway, formerly Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA); and Cisco Secure Web Appliance, formerly Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA), could allow a remote attacker to conduct a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack against a user of the interface. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory.

Published: 2023-06-28 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-20120 is rated Low Risk (34/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.15%). 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-2023-20120

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 2026-03-23 0.12% 0.15% +0.03%
2 2025-11-21 0.19% 0.12% -0.07%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.19% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-20120

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.3 2.7 [email protected]
6.1 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 2.7 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-20120

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-20120

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cisco secure_email_and_web_manager 14.0.0-418 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_email_and_web_manager:14.0.0-418:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco secure_email_and_web_manager 14.0.1-033 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_email_and_web_manager:14.0.1-033:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco secure_email_and_web_manager 14.0.1-053 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_email_and_web_manager:14.0.1-053:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco secure_email_and_web_manager 15.0.0-050 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_email_and_web_manager:15.0.0-050:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco secure_email_and_web_manager 15.0.0-256 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_email_and_web_manager:15.0.0-256:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco secure_email_gateway 14.0.0-418 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_email_gateway:14.0.0-418:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco secure_email_gateway 14.0.1-033 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_email_gateway:14.0.1-033:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco secure_email_gateway 14.0.1-053 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_email_gateway:14.0.1-053:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco secure_email_gateway 15.0.0-050 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_email_gateway:15.0.0-050:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco secure_email_gateway 15.0.0-256 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_email_gateway:15.0.0-256:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco web_security_appliance 14.0.0-418 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:web_security_appliance:14.0.0-418:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco web_security_appliance 14.0.1-033 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:web_security_appliance:14.0.1-033:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco web_security_appliance 14.0.1-053 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:web_security_appliance:14.0.1-053:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco web_security_appliance 15.0.0-050 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:web_security_appliance:15.0.0-050:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco web_security_appliance 15.0.0-256 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:web_security_appliance:15.0.0-256:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-20120

cvelogic Threat Intelligence