Today, December 24, is the CISA-mandated deadline for federal agencies to remediate the critical unpatched Cisco zero-day (CVE-2025-20393). As no patch exists, Cisco Talos has reiterated that “rebuilding from scratch” is the only way to ensure the AquaShell backdoor is removed from compromised appliances.
Business Impact
This is a high-friction remediation. Rebuilding hardware during the holiday break is a massive drain on resources but essential. Any organization—public or private—running Cisco Secure Email with an internet-facing ‘Spam Quarantine’ is at high risk of active espionage by Chinese-nexus group UAT-9686.
Why It Happened
The vulnerability persists because it targets a specific configuration that Cisco had not originally recommended for internet exposure. The lack of a patch means the vendor is struggling with a complex architectural fix for AsyncOS.
Recommended Executive Action
If your consultancy clients in Bahrain haven’t verified their Cisco configurations yet, this must be the final “Clear to Close” task of the day. If compromise is suspected, the appliance must be taken offline and rebuilt with clean firmware immediately.
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