CVE-2026-76461: Cisco Secure Email Gateway SQL Injection Vulnerability

Compare the exact product, branch, package, platform, and vendor status. An upstream version boundary is not proof that a distribution backport or appliance firmware is vulnerable or fixed.

How the vulnerability works

A vulnerability in the email parsing of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Secure Email Gateway could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges on the underlying operating system. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation in the email parsing logic. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted email message that contains malicious SQL statements through an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary SQL statements, leading to command execution with root privileges on the underlying operating system. CVE CNA: cisco

Cisco Secure Email Gateway commonly protects an internet edge or management boundary. Exposure there can affect remote access, traffic inspection, credentials, and the trust placed in downstream systems.

How to check your systems

Check the running firmware and model, restrict management access, compare configuration changes and new accounts, preserve independent logs, and rotate credentials if compromise cannot be excluded.

Record the running product build and enabled component from the vendor-supported inventory interface. Compare it with each affected range above, then check the documented authentication and network prerequisites. Keep the output, asset identifier, observation time, and advisory revision with the change ticket.

How to fix

Permanent remediation

1. Inventory internet-facing and management-plane appliances, including standby nodes and unsupported firmware.
2. Apply the latest vendor remediation or isolate the vulnerable path when immediate patching is not possible.
3. Review administrator logins, configuration exports, new accounts, VPN activity, and outbound connections; rotate credentials if compromise cannot be excluded.
4. Validate the fixed version and control health, then record any exception with an owner and expiry date.

Official remediation direction: CISA due date: 2026-09-17. This deadline applies to covered US federal civilian agencies; other organizations should set a risk-based deadline. Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines. Official action

If you cannot patch yet

No product-specific workaround is established by the source data available for this article. Ask the vendor for supported options. As an operational precaution, restrict access to the affected interface or isolate the component where service dependencies permit; this is not evidence that the underlying flaw is fixed.

Give any temporary control an owner and expiry, verify it covers every affected instance, and retain a rollback path. Remove it only after the permanent remediation is verified.

Detection and post-fix validation

• Confirm the installed and running version of Cisco Secure Email Gateway against the current vendor advisory.
• Check whether the vulnerable interface is reachable from untrusted networks or lower-privileged identities.
• Look for new accounts, privilege changes, crashes, child processes, or unusual outbound traffic associated with the component.
• Run a post-remediation service and security-control health check and retain evidence with the change record.

A clean scan or a version match alone does not rule out earlier compromise. If telemetry suggests exploitation, preserve evidence and follow the incident-response process alongside patching.

Timeline and exploitation status

• September 14, 2026 — Source entry published.
• September 14, 2026 — Added to CISA KEV.
• September 14, 2026 — CVE record published.
• September 18, 2026 — Source record updated.

Record publication and KEV addition dates describe those source events; they do not establish when exploitation first began.

The linked official record reports exploitation in the wild. This does not establish that any particular deployment has been compromised.

Public proof-of-concept availability is not independently established here. Recheck the vendor and government records as evidence changes.

Primary sources and references

• CNA-linked reference: cisco-sa-esa-inj-2bLVGmhX
• CISA-linked vendor guidance: www.cisa.gov
• CISA-linked vendor guidance: www.cisa.gov
• CISA-linked vendor guidance: nvd.nist.gov
• CVE CNA: cisco: CVE-2026-76461 CNA record
• CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities: CVE-2026-76461: Cisco Secure Email Gateway SQL Injection Vulnerability