Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller and Manager Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
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…
Severity = CVSS. Probability = EPSS (FIRST). Exploitation = public signals: KEV, EUVD, ransomware, EPSS above 10 %, no account required.
Exploitation probability EPSS · FIRST
Exploitation signals 4 / 5
- KEV catalog (CISA)25 Feb 2026
- Exploited in EUVD (ENISA)25 Feb 2026
- Used by ransomwareno
- EPSS above 10 %89.3%
- No account, over the networkyes
What to do
Fix
Apply the vendor’s fix as soon as it is available.
CISA guidance: Please adhere to CISA’s guidelines to assess exposure and mitigate risks associated with Cisco SD-WAN devices as outlines 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.
Meanwhile
Take the service off the internet or restrict access to it, watch the logs and look for signs of compromise.
Manufacturers (CRA)
Exploited vulnerability in your product: early warning to ENISA within 24 h, then notification within 72 h (Article 14 of the Cyber Resilience Act). The CRA explained
Description ENISA EUVD
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 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.
Affected products
- 18.3.7
- 20.9.4.1.1
- 20.3.7.1
- 20.6.4.1
- 18.4.6
- 20.1.2_937
- 19.2.4.0.1
- 20.3.4.0.11
- 20.9.4.1.3
- 20.12.5.1
- 20.3.3.0.17
- 20.3.2.1_927
Open source packages OSV
Affected libraries according to OSV, with fixed versions.
Timeline
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Published
-
Exploitation reported (ENISA)
-
Added to the KEV catalog
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CISA remediation due date
-
EPSS peak: 89.3%
References
Other exploited vulnerabilities from the same vendor
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- CVE-2026-76519Cisco Secure Email Gateway Relative Path Traversal Vulnerability5.8 · Rising fast
- CVE-2026-76504Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Hex Encoding Vulnerability7.5 · Actively exploited
- CVE-2026-76460Cisco Identity Services Engine Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs Vulnerability8.7 · Actively exploited
- CVE-2026-76461Cisco Secure Email Gateway SQL Injection Vulnerability7.2 · Actively exploited
- CVE-2026-20079Cisco Firewall Management Center Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel Vulnerability9.1 · Actively exploited