KEV Intelligence

Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2026-20245

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authenticated Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Cisco / Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller · 20.6.4

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Severity
CVSS 7.8 · High
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
25.3%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2026-20245 is a vulnerability affecting Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager. A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller, formerly SD-WAN vSmart, Cisco Catalyst...

Is it exploited?

Yes. KEV Intelligence tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed.

Who is affected?

Cisco / Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 20.6.4.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authenticated Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

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 or . 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 that was published on May 14, 2026, and verify the configuration of the edge devices.

Vendor Product Affected Status
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 20.6.4 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 20.9.2 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 20.3.6 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 20.7.2 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 20.7.1 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 20.5.1 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 20.6.2 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 19.3.0 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 20.6.1 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 17.2.4 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 18.2.0 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 18.4.6 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 19.1.0 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 19.2.4 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 19.2.929 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 18.3.8 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 18.4.303 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 18.3.7 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 18.4.1 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 19.2.097 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 19.2.0 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 19.2.099 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 18.3.6 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 20.4.2 Affected
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 19.0.0 Affected
Published
04 Jun 2026
Exploitation Reported
05 Jun 2026
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None

Tags

edge cisa

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why KEV Intelligence marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

BleepingComputer

Recorded 05 Jun 2026

Independent exploitation attestation added to the KEV Intelligence record.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEV Intelligence Pro API.

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Source Added
BleepingComputer First 2026-06-05 06:24 UTC
TheHackerNews 2026-06-06 06:20 UTC
CISA 2026-06-09 19:00 UTC
CVE 2026-06-09 19:31 UTC
All CISA Advisories 2026-06-09 20:20 UTC
Google Threat Intelligence 2026-06-24 14:20 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
0
User-Agents
0

Raw values available in Pro and Enterprise.

Scanner coverage

No scanner integrations recorded yet.

Virtual patch status

No KEV Intelligence virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

No detection artifacts or sensor request patterns are available for this CVE yet.

Check back as sensor telemetry and scanner integrations are updated.

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

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

EPSS

25.3%

Weaknesses

Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output CWE-116

Recent mention · TheHackerNews

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Zero-Day CVE-2026-20245 Exploited to Gain Root Access

An unknown threat actor exploited a recently disclosed high-severity security flaw impacting Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN as a zero-day at least two months before it was publicly disclosed, according to new findings from Google-owned Mandiant. The vulnerability, tracked as...

Read full advisory

All Mentions

Recent mention · TheHackerNews

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Zero-Day CVE-2026-20245 Exploited to Gain Root Access

TheHackerNews · 25 Jun 2026

An unknown threat actor exploited a recently disclosed high-severity security flaw impacting Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN as a zero-day at least two months before it was publicly disclosed, according to new findings from Google-owned Mandiant. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-20245 (CVSS score: 7.8), allows an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges

Recent mention · BleepingComputer

Mandiant reveals how Cisco SD-WAN zero-day attacks gained root access

BleepingComputer · 24 Jun 2026

New details have been revealed on how hackers exploited a Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-20245 in zero-day attacks to create rogue root accounts on targeted devices. [...]

Recent mention · Google Threat Intelligence

Written by: Chester Sng, Pete Boonyakarn, Logeswaran Nadarajan, Lukasz Lamparski Introduction  In early 2026, Mandiant identified a threat actor...

Google Threat Intelligence · 24 Jun 2026

Written by: Chester Sng, Pete Boonyakarn, Logeswaran Nadarajan, Lukasz Lamparski Introduction  In early 2026, Mandiant identified a threat actor targeting SD-WAN infrastructure at a service provider. After gaining initial access, the threat actor exploited a zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2026-20245) in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN to escalate privileges from a compromised administrative account to root-level access. The vulnerability stems from the device’s file upload feature lacking the ability to properly filter malicious data. Throughout the intrusion, to maintain operational security and avoid...

Recent mention · Google Threat Intelligence

Written by: Chester Sng, Pete Boonyakarn, Logeswaran Nadarajan Introduction  In early 2026, Mandiant identified a threat actor targeting SD-WAN...

Google Threat Intelligence · 24 Jun 2026

Written by: Chester Sng, Pete Boonyakarn, Logeswaran Nadarajan Introduction  In early 2026, Mandiant identified a threat actor targeting SD-WAN infrastructure at a service provider. After gaining initial access, the threat actor exploited a zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2026-20245) in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN to escalate privileges from a compromised administrative account to root-level access. The vulnerability stems from the device’s file upload feature lacking the ability to properly filter malicious data. Throughout the intrusion, to maintain operational security and avoid detection, the...

Recent mention · TheHackerNews

CISA Adds Cisco, Chrome, and Arista Flaws to KEV Catalog Amid Active Exploitation

TheHackerNews · 10 Jun 2026

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday added three new vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, following reports of active exploitation. The list of vulnerabilities is as follows - CVE-2026-20245 (CVSS score: 7.8) - An improper encoding or escaping of output vulnerability in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager that could allow an

Recent mention · Cisco Security Advisory

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

Cisco Security Advisory · 09 Jun 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...

Recent mention · All CISA Advisories

CISA Adds Three Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog

All CISA Advisories · 09 Jun 2026

CISA has added three new vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation. CVE-2026-7473 Arista Extensible Operating System Incomplete Comparison with Missing Factors Vulnerability CVE-2026-11645 Google Chromium V8 Out-of-Bounds Read and Write Vulnerability CVE-2026-20245 Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output Vulnerability These types of vulnerabilities are a frequent attack vector for malicious cyber actors and pose significant risks to the federal enterprise. Binding Operational Directive (BOD)...

Recent mention · TheHackerNews

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager CVE-2026-20245 Flaw Actively Exploited – No Patch Available

TheHackerNews · 06 Jun 2026

Cisco has warned that a high-severity security flaw impacting Catalyst SD-WAN Manager has come under active exploitation. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-20245, carries a CVSS score of 7.8 out of a maximum of 10.0. It affects the following deployment types - On-Prem Deployment Cisco SD-WAN Cloud-Pro Cisco SD-WAN Cloud (Cisco Managed) Cisco SD-WAN for Government (FedRAMP) "A

Recent mention · BleepingComputer

Cisco warns of unpatched SD-WAN zero-day exploited in attacks

BleepingComputer · 05 Jun 2026

On Thursday, Cisco warned of a high-severity, unpatched zero-day in the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager (tracked as CVE-2026-20245) actively exploited in attacks enabling root privilege escalation. [...]

Recent mention · Cisco Security Advisory

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Authenticated Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Cisco Security Advisory · 04 Jun 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...

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. KEV confirmed by Google Threat Intelligence

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  2. KEV confirmed by All CISA Advisories

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  3. KEV confirmed by CVE

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  4. Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  5. KEV confirmed by TheHackerNews

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  6. Added to KEV Intelligence KEV Feed

    High-confidence, third-party attested exploitation

  7. CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  8. CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2026-20245

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2026-20245",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 7.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.25323,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}

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