KEVIntel
10.0
CVSS
Critical

CVE-2026-20127

PUBLISHED

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

1 day faster than CISA KEV

Exploited in the wild PoC available Remote Low complexity No user interaction
Vendor
Cisco
Product
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager
Published
Feb 25, 2026
EPSS
54.8% · 98% pctl

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Description

A vulnerability in the peering authentication in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller, formerly SD-WAN vSmart, and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, formerly SD-WAN vManage, 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 an 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. 

cisa edge

Weaknesses (CWE)

CVSS scores

CVSS v3.1 10.0 Critical

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation status

Exploited in the wild

Recorded 2026-06-01 11:10:29 UTC · CVE

Proof of concept available

Recorded 2026-03-09 14:38:24 UTC · GitHub

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Catalogues that list this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability.

Source Added
CVE First 2026-06-01 11:10 UTC
CISA 2026-06-02 14:03 UTC

Recent mentions

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller, Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, and Catalyst SD-WAN Validator Authenticated Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Cisco Security Advisory · Jun 09, 2026

A vulnerability in the CLI of 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 authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root by supplying a crafted file to the affected system. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by uploading a crafted file to the affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to perform command injection attacks on an affected system and elevate their privileges as the root user.  To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have netadmin privileges on the affected system. This would require valid credentials or exploitation of CVE-2026-20182 or CVE-2026-20127. Cisco is not aware of successful exploitation by other methods. Cisco has observed limited cases where the exploitation of this bug resulted in a configuration change pushed to edge devices. Cisco recommends that customers upgrade to the fixed software that is documented in the Catalyst SD-WAN Security Advisory that was published on May 14, 2026, and verify the configuration of the edge devices. Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. This advisory will be updated as more information becomes available. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability. Important: To preserve possible indicators of compromise, customers should issue the request admin-tech command from each of the control components in the SD-WAN deployment before upgrading. After the admin-tech file has been collected, software should be upgraded at the earliest opportunity. Before upgrading an SD-WAN deployment to a fixed release, retain relevant logs. After upgrading, verify that the system has not been compromised by checking the logs for the indicators of compromise as documented in this advisory. If the logs show...

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Authenticated Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Cisco Security Advisory · Jun 04, 2026

A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, formerly SD-WAN vManage, could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root by supplying a crafted file to the affected system. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by uploading a crafted file to the affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to perform command injection attacks on an affected system and elevate their privileges as the root user.  To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have netadmin privileges on the affected system. This would require valid credentials or exploitation of CVE-2026-20182 or CVE-2026-20127. Cisco is not aware of successful exploitation by other methods. Cisco has observed limited cases where the exploitation of this bug resulted in a configuration change pushed to edge devices. Cisco recommends that customers upgrade to the fixed software that is documented in the Catalyst SD-WAN Security Advisory that was published on May 14, 2026, and verify the configuration of the edge devices. Cisco has not released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability. Important: To preserve possible indicators of compromise, customers should issue the request admin-tech command from each of the control components in the SD-WAN deployment before upgrading. After the admin-tech file has been collected, software should be upgraded at the earliest opportunity. Before upgrading an SD-WAN deployment to a fixed release, retain relevant logs. After upgrading, verify that the system has not been compromised by checking the logs for the indicators of compromise as documented in this advisory. If the logs show indicators of compromise and the system is confirmed to be compromised, applying the software update alone will not resolve the vulnerability. In such cases, follow the specific...

Potential proof of concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

sfewer-r7/CVE-2026-20127

github · Created 2026-03-09 14:38:24 UTC · 23 stars

An exploit for the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller authentication bypass vulnerability, CVE-2026-20127

abrahamsurf/sdwan-scanner-CVE-2026-20127

github · Created 2026-03-08 09:04:34 UTC · 0 stars

Cisco SD-WAN Exposure & Potential Vulnerability Scanner (Passive Fingerprinting) 2026

yonathanpy/CVE-2026-20127-Cisco-SD-WAN-Preauth-RCE

github · Created 2026-03-07 09:39:29 UTC · 2 stars

BugFor-Pings/CVE-2026-20127_EXP

github · Created 2026-03-05 15:28:31 UTC · 4 stars

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN 身份验证绕过漏洞(CVE-2026-20127)利用EXP

randeepajayasekara/CVE-2026-20127

github · Created 2026-03-04 03:25:57 UTC · 0 stars

Walkthrough of the CVSS 10.0 authentication bypass in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN from first malformed peering request to root on the management plane.

zerozenxlabs/CVE-2026-20127---Cisco-SD-WAN-Preauth-RCE

github · Created 2026-03-04 01:20:17 UTC · 31 stars

Timeline

  • CVE ID Reserved

  • CVE Published to Public

  • Proof of Concept Exploit Available

  • Added to KEVIntel

  • KEV confirmed by CISA