CVE-2026-20245
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authenticated Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
In short
A flaw in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller, Manager, and Validator allows an authenticated admin user to run commands as root by uploading a specially crafted file. This gives attackers with admin access complete control over the system.
Technical detail
Insufficient input validation in the CLI allows authenticated users with netadmin privileges to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges through file upload and command injection. Successful exploitation may result in system compromise and unauthorized configuration changes propagated to edge devices.
Summary generated and translated by AI from the official description.
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.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
public PoCs found — 3
githubgithub.com/0xBlackash/CVE-2026-20245★ 4githubgithub.com/HORKimhab/CVE-2026-20245★ 0githubgithub.com/fevar54/CVE-2026-20245---Cisco-SD-WAN-Privilege-Escalation-Exploit★ 0⚠ Public resources, to assess the exposure of systems you control or are authorized to test. Test only with authorization.
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https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sdwan-privesc-4uxFrdzxhttps://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sdwan-rpa2-v69WY2SWhttps://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-20245