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CVE-2026-20182

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

Critical10.0Known exploitedPublic exploitEPSS 91.8%
Published
Updated
Reserved
Assigned by
cisco

Description

May 2026: This security advisory provides the details and fix information for a vulnerability that was discovered and fixed after the was disclosed in February 2026. This new advisory is for a new vulnerability in the control connection handshaking. The section of this advisory includes Show Control Connections guidance to help with system checks.  A vulnerability in the peering authentication in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller, formerly SD-WAN vSmart, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, formerly SD-WAN vManage, and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Validator, formerly SD-WAN vBond, could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication and obtain administrative privileges on an affected system. This vulnerability exists because the peering authentication mechanism in an affected system is not working properly. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted requests to the affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to log in to an affected Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller as an internal, high-privileged, non-root user account. Using this account, the attacker could access NETCONF, which would then allow the attacker to manipulate network configuration for the SD-WAN fabric.

Exploited in the wild

CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authentication Bypass Vulnerability.

Added
14 May 2026
Fix due (US federal)
17 May 2026
Used by ransomware
Not known

Please adhere to CISA’s guidelines to assess exposure and mitigate risks associated with Cisco SD-WAN devices as outlined in CISA’s Emergency Directive 26-03 (URL listed below in Notes) and CISA’s Hunt & Hardening Guidance for Cisco SD-WAN Devices (URL listed below in Notes). Adhere to the applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are not available.

Public exploit

An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.

Timeline

  1. ID reserved

    By cisco

  2. · 7 months later

    Published

  3. Added to CISA KEV

    Known exploited in the wild

  4. · 33 days later

    Record updated

Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.

Scores

CVSS scores of CVE-2026-20182, by who scored it
Scored byCVSSScoreVector
ciscoCNA (assigner)3.1Critical10.0CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVDNVD · Analyzed3.1Critical10.0CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
91.8% · top 0.2% of all CVEs (7 Nov 2026)
CISA SSVC
Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
Loading the EPSS history…

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 10.0.

Weakness

Affected products

  • Cisco · Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller

    • affected 20.6.4
    • affected 20.9.2
    • affected 20.3.6
    • affected 20.7.2
    • affected 20.7.1
    • affected 20.5.1
    • affected 20.6.2
    • affected 19.3.0
    • affected 20.6.1
    • affected 17.2.4
    • affected 18.2.0
    • affected 18.4.6
    • affected 19.1.0
    • affected 19.2.4
    • affected 19.2.929
    • affected 18.3.8
    • affected 18.4.303
    • affected 18.3.7
    • affected 18.4.1
    • affected 19.2.097
    • affected 19.2.0
    • affected 19.2.099
    • affected 18.3.6
    • affected 20.4.2
    • affected 19.0.0
    • affected 20.9.1
    • affected 20.3.5
    • affected 20.3.1
    • affected 18.3.5
    • affected 20.6.3
    • affected 18.4.3
    • affected 18.4.4
    • affected 18.3.3
    • affected 17.2.8
    • affected 20.8.1
    • affected 19.2.32
    • affected 19.2.2
    • affected 17.2.5
    • affected 18.4.0
    • affected 20.4.1.1
    • and 89 more

  • Cisco · Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager

    • affected 20.1.12
    • affected 19.2.1
    • affected 18.4.4
    • affected 18.4.5
    • affected 20.1.1.1
    • affected 20.1.1
    • affected 19.2.099
    • affected 18.3.6
    • affected 18.3.7
    • affected 19.2.0
    • affected 19.1.0
    • affected 18.4.303
    • affected 19.2.098
    • affected 18.3.6.1
    • affected 18.2.0
    • affected 17.2.8
    • affected 18.3.3.1
    • affected 18.4.0
    • affected 18.3.1
    • affected 17.2.6
    • affected 17.2.9
    • affected 17.2.5
    • affected 18.4.0.1
    • affected 18.3.3
    • affected 18.3.0
    • affected 19.2.3
    • affected 18.4.501_ES
    • affected 20.1.2
    • affected 19.2.929
    • affected 19.2.31
    • affected 20.3.2
    • affected 19.2.4
    • affected 19.2.4.0.9
    • affected 20.1.3.1

What to do

Exploitation: In May 2026, the Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) became aware of limited exploitation of this vulnerability. Cisco strongly recommends that customers upgrade to a fixed software release to remediate this vulnerability.

References (3)

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

Badge for a README or a ticket

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Record last updated .