CVE-2023-20215Network attack vector

Policy bypass via misdetected encoded HTTP responses

Published Aug 3, 2023 · Updated Aug 2, 2024

Filter bypass in Cisco Secure Web Appliance scanning engines allows remote attackers to receive policy-blocked traffic via crafted HTTP responses. The engines fail to detect malicious traffic when an HTTP response uses the deflate, lzma, or brotli content-encoding format. Exploitation requires an affected encoding to be enabled and an appliance-mediated connection to a malicious server; the result is policy evasion, not code execution or appliance compromise.

CVSS severity5.8
Medium
EPSS probability0.62%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Filter bypass in Cisco Secure Web Appliance scanning engines allows remote attackers to receive policy-blocked traffic via crafted HTTP responses. The engines fail to detect malicious traffic when an HTTP response uses the deflate, lzma, or brotli content-encoding format. Exploitation requires an affected encoding to be enabled and an appliance-mediated connection to a malicious server; the result is policy evasion, not code execution or appliance compromise.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-20215
Published
Aug 3, 2023
Updated
Aug 2, 2024
Vendor
ClamAV
Product
Cisco Secure Web Appliance
Classifications
CWE-202, T1027
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Aug 3, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 2, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=11.7.0-406
  2. Affected versionversion=11.7.0-418
  3. Affected versionversion=11.7.1-006
  4. Affected versionversion=11.7.1-020
  5. Affected versionversion=11.7.1-049
  6. Affected versionversion=11.7.2-011
  7. Affected versionversion=11.8.0-414
  8. Affected versionversion=11.8.1-023
  9. Affected versionversion=11.8.3-018
  10. Affected versionversion=11.8.3-021
  11. Affected versionversion=12.0.1-268
  12. Affected versionversion=12.0.3-007
  13. Affected versionversion=12.5.1-011
  14. Affected versionversion=12.5.2-007
  15. Affected versionversion=12.5.4-005
  16. Affected versionversion=12.5.5-004
  17. Affected versionversion=14.0.2-012
  18. Affected versionversion=14.0.3-014
  19. Affected versionversion=14.0.4-005
  20. Affected versionversion=14.5.0-498
  21. Affected versionversion=14.5.1-016

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

ClamAV · Cisco Secure Web Applianceversion=11.7.0-406; version=11.7.0-418; version=11.7.1-006; version=11.7.1-020; version=11.7.1-049; version=11.7.2-011; version=11.8.0-414; version=11.8.1-023; version=11.8.3-018; version=11.8.3-021; version=12.0.1-268; version=12.0.3-007; version=12.5.1-011; version=12.5.2-007; version=12.5.4-005; version=12.5.5-004; version=14.0.2-012; version=14.0.3-014; version=14.0.4-005; version=14.5.0-498; version=14.5.1-016

Published CVSS scores

5.8CiscoCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N/E:X/RL:X/RC:X

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-202Exposure of Sensitive Information Through Data Queries
T1027Obfuscated Files or Information

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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