Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authentication Bypass Vulnerability (CVE-2026-20182)
Severity: critical · Patch status: unknown · Since 2026-05-14 · CVE-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 added CVE-2026-20182 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on May 14, 2026, which means attackers are exploiting it in the wild.
What to do
- 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.
- US federal agencies must remediate by May 17, 2026 (BOD 22-01); treat that as the outer limit.
Sources
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