Global Cyber Agencies Urge Immediate Patching of Cisco SD
Vulnerabilities mentionedAll →
| CVE | Vulnerability | CVSS | EPSS | Flags | Affected | Exposure | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2022-20775 | Path Traversal Privilege Escalation in Cisco SD-WAN Software CLI CVE-2022-20775 is a path traversal and improper access control flaw (CWE-22/CWE-25) in the CLI of Cisco SD-WAN Software that allows an authenticated, local attacker to gain elevated privileges. An attacker triggers it by running a maliciously crafted command in the application CLI, abusing weak access controls on CLI commands. A successful exploit yields arbitrary command execution as the root user, giving full control of the affected SD-WAN component. Organizations running Cisco SD-WAN / Catalyst SD-WAN components — SD-WAN Manager, vBond Orchestrator, vSmart Controller, and vEdge Cloud routers — are affected. The flaw is now being actively exploited: it was added to the CISA KEV catalog on 2026-02-25, prompting CISA Emergency Directive 26-03 and joint Five Eyes 'Hunt & Hardening' guidance, a public proof-of-concept exists, and EPSS estimates a 12.5% chance of exploitation within 30 days (96th percentile). Do: Upgrade affected SD-WAN components — Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, vBond Orchestrator, vSmart Controller, and vEdge Cloud — to the fixed releases listed in Cisco advisory cisco-sa-sd-wan-priv-E6e8tEdF, as there are no workarounds. Restrict CLI access to trusted administrators, review local accounts for unexpected additions or changes, and hunt for signs of compromise per CISA Emergency Directive 26-03 and CISA's Hunt & Hardening Guidance for Cisco SD-WAN Devices. If patched software or cloud-service mitigations are unavailable, follow BOD 22-01 guidance and consider discontinuing use of the affected components. | 7.8 | 12% | KEV PoC |
| largeon the order of tens of thousands of SD-WAN controller and edge deployments (10k–100k systems) | |
| CVE-2026-20127 | Authentication Bypass in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller, Manager, Validator A flaw in the peering authentication mechanism of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller (formerly vSmart), Manager (formerly vManage), and Validator (formerly vBond) allows an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication by sending crafted requests to an affected system. A successful exploit grants the attacker access as an internal, high-privileged, non-root user on the SD-WAN Controller, from which they can reach NETCONF and manipulate the network configuration of the entire SD-WAN fabric. Any organization operating these Cisco SD-WAN control-plane components is affected, and the critical CVSS 10.0 score reflects full network scope with no privileges or user interaction required. The flaw is confirmed exploited in the wild: CISA added it to the KEV on 2026-02-25, Cisco has confirmed active exploitation (including a compromise of a communications service provider), and Five Eyes allies have issued an active-exploitation warning, with EPSS at 88.2% (100th percentile). Do: Upgrade affected Catalyst SD-WAN Controller, Manager, and Validator components per Cisco's PSIRT advisory (fixed versions are not specified in this data), and prioritize patching given confirmed in-the-wild exploitation. Follow CISA Emergency Directive 26-03 and the CISA Hunt & Hardening Guidance for Cisco SD-WAN Devices: hunt for compromise indicators such as unexpected high-privileged non-root logins and unauthorized NETCONF configuration changes, and restrict internet exposure of SD-WAN management interfaces. Where mitigations are unavailable, adhere to applicable BOD 22-01 cloud guidance or discontinue use of the product. | 10.0 | 88% | KEV |
| large≈10,000–100,000 controller/manager/validator deployments across enterprise and service-provider SD-WAN fabrics (Cisco SD-WAN is a market-leading enterprise… |
Full article511 words · extracted from infosecurity-magazine.com · click to collapse
Government security agencies in the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have urged Cisco customers to take immediate action to patch a critical zero-day bug in their SD-WAN kit that has been exploited since 2023.
CVE-2026-20127 is an authentication bypass 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).
According to Cisco, it could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication and obtain administrative privileges on an affected system. It has a maximum CVSS score of 10.0.
“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,” the Cisco advisory noted.
“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.”
According to a detailed “Threat Hunt” guide issued by several Five Eyes security agencies, the sophisticated threat actors likely downgraded target systems to an older version, in order to exploit legacy local privilege escalation vulnerability CVE-2022-20775. They then restored back to the original software version, in order to gain root access.
Customers are urged to patch both the legacy 2022 bug and the new zero-day vulnerability for which Cisco released a fix yesterday.
The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an emergency directive requiring all federal agencies to find and patch the vulnerabilities by 5pm ET on February 27, 2026.
“Based on collaboration with international partners and CISA’s forensic analysis, the ease with which these vulnerabilities can be exploited demands immediate action from all federal agencies,” said CISA acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala.
“We urge all entities to implement the measures outlined in this emergency directive without delay.”
Immediate Actions for Securing Vulnerable SD‑WAN Deployment
The Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN product streamlines and secures connectivity between branch offices, datacenters and the cloud.
According to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), threat actors “are compromising SD-WANs to add a malicious rogue peer and then conduct a range of follow-on actions to achieve root access and maintain persistent access to the SD-WAN.”
By adding a malicious device in this way, they could silently penetrate a target’s network infrastructure.
The NCSC urged affected organizations to work through the following steps, in order:
- Perform threat hunting for evidence of compromise detailed in the Hunt Guide
- If compromise looks likely, collect artefacts from the device and report it to the NCSC (for UK organizations)
- Update to the latest version of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller as detailed in their respective advisories
- Apply the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Hardening Guide
- Perform continuous threat hunting activities
The hardening guide lists steps covering network perimeter controls, SD-WAN manager access, control and data plane security, session timeout and logging.
Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/immediate-patch-cisco-catalyst/