Secure Email and Web
CVE-2025-20185: Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager, Secure Email Gateway, and Secure Web Appliance Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the implementation of the remote access functionality of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager, Cisco Secure Email Gateway, and Cisco Secure Web Appliance could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to root.
Published
Automatic summary from the vendor's CVE record. We haven't written a full analysis of this vulnerability yet.
Affected and fixed versions
| Product / branch | Fixed in |
|---|---|
| Cisco Secure Email 14.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email 13.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email 13.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email 14.2 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email 13.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email 13.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email 14.2 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email 14.3 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email 15.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email 15.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email 15.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email 15.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email 15.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email 15.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 13.6 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 13.6 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 13.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 13.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 13.8 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 13.8 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 13.8 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 14.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 12.8 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 14.1 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 13.6 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 14.2 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 14.2 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 12.8 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 13.8 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 14.2 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 14.3 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 15.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 15.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 15.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager 15.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 11.8 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.1 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.1 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.1 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 11.8 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 11.8 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 11.8 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 11.8 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 11.8 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 15.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 15.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 15.1 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 15.2 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 15.2 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 15.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 15.2 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.5 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 11.8 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 14.0 | See the advisory |
| Cisco Secure Web Appliance 12.5 | See the advisory |
Always confirm against the vendor advisory, which lists every fixed hotfix.
What it is
A vulnerability in the implementation of the remote access functionality of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager, Cisco Secure Email Gateway, and Cisco Secure Web Appliance could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to root. The attacker must authenticate with valid administrator credentials.
This vulnerability is due to an architectural flaw in the password generation algorithm for the remote access functionality. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by generating a temporary password for the service account. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root and access the underlying operating system. Note: The Security Impact Rating (SIR) for this vulnerability is Medium due to the unrestricted scope of information that is accessible to an attacker.
Exploitation
The Cisco PSIRT is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of the vulnerabilities that are described in this advisory.
Sources
KEV status, EPSS score and vendor data refreshed automatically, last on 11 Oct 2026.