Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API Print: PDF PDF

Summary

CVECVE-2026-20182
StatePUBLISHED
Assignercisco
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-05-14 17:16:19 UTC
Updated2026-05-15 12:45:53 UTC
DescriptionMay 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, 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 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.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 10 CRITICAL from [email protected]

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

EPSS: 0.379540000 probability, percentile 0.972630000 (date 2026-05-16)

CISA KEV: Listed on 2026-05-14; due 2026-05-17; ransomware use Unknown

Problem Types: CWE-287 | CWE-287 Improper Authentication

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Secondary10CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
3.1CNACVSSV3_110CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability

VendorCisco
ProductCatalyst SD-WAN
NameCisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
Required ActionPlease 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.
NotesCISA Mitigation Instructions: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/ed-26-03-mitigate-vulnerabilities-cisco-sd-wan-systems ; https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/supplemental-direction-ed-26-03-hunt-and-hardening-guidance-cisco-sd-wan-systems ; https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sdwan-rpa2-v69WY2SW ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-20182

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

TypeVendorProductVersionUpdateEditionLanguage
Application Cisco Catalyst Sd-wan Manager All All All All

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 20.1.12 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 19.2.1 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.4.4 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.4.5 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 20.1.1.1 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 20.1.1 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 19.2.099 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.3.6 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.3.7 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 19.2.0 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 19.1.0 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.4.303 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 19.2.098 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.3.6.1 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.2.0 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 17.2.8 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.3.3.1 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.4.0 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.3.1 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 17.2.6 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 17.2.9 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 17.2.5 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.4.0.1 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.3.3 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.3.0 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 19.2.3 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 18.4.501_ES Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 20.1.2 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 19.2.929 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 19.2.31 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 20.3.2 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 19.2.4 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 19.2.4.0.9 Not specified
CNA Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager affected 20.1.3.1 Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 www.cisa.gov US Government Resource
sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sdwan-... [email protected] sec.cloudapps.cisco.com Vendor Advisory
sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sdwan-... [email protected] sec.cloudapps.cisco.com Not Applicable
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis
CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog CISA www.cisa.gov kev

Additional Advisory Data

SourceTimeEvent
ADP2026-05-14T00:00:00.000ZCVE-2026-20182 added to CISA KEV

Exploits

CNA: 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.

© CVE.report 2026 |

Use of this information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition. There are NO warranties, implied or otherwise, with regard to this information or its use. Any use of this information is at the user's risk. It is the responsibility of user to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content. EACH USER WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY consequences of his or her direct or indirect use of this web site. ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. This site will NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT or any other kind of loss.

CVE, CWE, and OVAL are registred trademarks of The MITRE Corporation and the authoritative source of CVE content is MITRE's CVE web site. This site includes MITRE data granted under the following license.

Free CVE JSON API cve.report/api

CVE.report and Source URL Uptime Status status.cve.report