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Vulnerabilities

Vulnerability · CVE-2026-20182

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

Published May 14, 2026 · catalog updated Jun 17, 2026 · Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

Patch now

CVE-2026-20182 is in the CISA known-exploited catalog, due May 17, 2026. Confirm Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN against the vendor advisory and apply that fix. The CVSS score does not change the priority.

Severity
Critical10.0
Known exploitation
CISA KEV and VulnCheck KEV
EPSS
91.82%
Remediation
Remediation guidance
Affected products
cpe cisco/catalyst sd-wan manager · vendor Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN

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.

Are you affected?

Enter the version you run. The result uses only the ranges stored on this record.

The check returns affected, not affected, or incomplete. It does not guess a version that is missing from the record.

  • cpe cisco/catalyst sd-wan manager20.12.7
  • vendor Cisco Catalyst SD-WANversion unspecified

How to fix CVE-2026-20182

What to do

Three questions, each answered from this record only. Confirm the vendor advisory before you patch.

Should you patch?

CVE-2026-20182 is in the CISA known-exploited catalog, due May 17, 2026. Confirm Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN against the vendor advisory and apply that fix. The CVSS score does not change the priority.

Which versions are affected?

Compare what you have installed with cisco/catalyst sd-wan manager 20.12.7. 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.

What should an analyst verify?

CWE-287: Improper Authentication. EPSS 91.82%. The CISA KEV listing is the exploitation evidence. A public exploit reference is linked in Sources. That is not the same as confirmed exploitation. Use the source links for the original advisory.

Technology hubs

Cisco security

Code

The project this record applies to. Exploit listings stay in References.

No public source repository is identified for this product.

Timeline

Detection, updates, and resolution for this record.

  1. May 14, 2026 · Catalog

    Detected

    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 C

  2. May 14, 2026 · CISA KEV

    Known exploited

    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 ava

  3. May 17, 2026 · CISA KEV

    Remediation due

    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 ava

  4. Jun 17, 2026 · Catalog

    Updated

    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 C

  5. Jun 17, 2026 · NIST NVD

    Updated

    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 C

Sources

  • CISA KEVConfirmed exploitationCVE-2026-20182

    Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller & Manager contain an authentication bypass vulnerability that allows an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication and obtain administrative privileges on an affected system.

    cisa.gov
  • CVE.orgVulnerability recordCVE-2026-20182

    Official CVE identifier

    cve.org
  • FIRST EPSSExploitation probabilityCVE-2026-20182

    30-day exploitation probability 91.8%

    first.org
  • Google Threat IntelligenceThreat researchCVE-2026-20182

    Research mention from Google Threat Intelligence. Not confirmation of exploitation.

    cloud.google.com
  • Metasploit ModulesPublic exploit moduleauxiliary_admin/networking/cisco_sdwan_vhub_auth_bypass

    Public module reference (normal). Module source is not copied into this catalog.

    rapid7.com
  • NIST NVDVulnerability recordCVE-2026-20182

    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

    nvd.nist.gov
  • VulnCheck KEVConfirmed exploitationCVE-2026-20182

    Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller & Manager contain an authentication bypass vulnerability that allows an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication and obtain administrative privileges on an affected system.

    vulncheck.com

References

Freshness

Last verified in this catalog Oct 18, 2026. Significant claims (KEV, EPSS, CVSS, affected ranges) come from the source rows above — open the original publisher for the authoritative advisory.