What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-20245?

CVE-2026-20245 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.8 (High). CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.1%.

Which versions of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager are affected by CVE-2026-20245?

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability (CVE-2026-20245) that allows authenticated network administrators to execute commands as root and push unauthorized…

Is there a public PoC exploit available for CVE-2026-20245?

Yes, a public proof-of-concept exploit is available for CVE-2026-20245. Prioritise patching immediately. EPSS: 0.1%.

How to fix or mitigate CVE-2026-20245?

Within 24 hours: inventory all Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager instances and their versions; restrict netadmin role access to only required personnel; enable audit logging for configuration changes. Within 7 days: conduct forensic review of configuration change logs for unauthorized modifications; verify integrity of deployed edge device configurations. Within 30 days: evaluate upgrade path to next major version when released, or implement alternative SD-WAN management strategy if available.

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager CVE-2026-20245

EUVD-2026-34341 HIGH

Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output (CWE-116)

2026-06-04 cisco

GHSA-h4c6-cm2m-h5f6

Command Injection Cisco Cisco Catalyst Sd Wan Manager

7.8

CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: cisco

Severity by source

Vendor (cisco) PRIMARY

7.8 HIGH

AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Primary rating from Vendor (cisco) · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorVendor: cisco

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

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Lifecycle Timeline

Added to CISA KEV

Jun 09, 2026 - 19:03 CISA

Analysis Generated

Jun 04, 2026 - 23:01 vuln.today

CVE Published

Jun 04, 2026 - 22:33 nvd

HIGH 7.8

DescriptionCVE.org

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 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.

Articles & Coverage 2

sentinelone.com Operation Endgame Seizes 326 Servers; Cisco CVE-2026-20230 & CVE-2026-20245 Exploited for Root Access Jun 26, 2026 POC CVE-2026-20245: Proof-of-Concept Released for Cisco SD-WAN Vulnerability Jun 06, 2026

AnalysisAI

Local privilege escalation in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager (formerly SD-WAN vManage) allows an authenticated netadmin user to execute arbitrary commands as root by uploading a crafted file through the CLI. Cisco has observed limited real-world exploitation that resulted in unauthorized configuration changes being pushed to downstream edge devices, though the issue is not currently listed in CISA KEV and no public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis.

Technical ContextAI

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager is the centralized management plane for Cisco's SD-WAN fabric, controlling policy and configuration distribution to edge routers across an enterprise WAN. The vulnerability is rooted in CWE-116 (Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output), where the CLI fails to properly validate or sanitize user-supplied input contained in an uploaded file before it is passed to a shell or command interpreter, enabling command injection. Because SD-WAN Manager runs the CLI process with elevated permissions and the injected commands execute as root, the flaw becomes a full privilege escalation from netadmin to root on the management appliance itself, which then has trusted authority over every edge device in the fabric (CPE: cpe:2.3:a:cisco:cisco_catalyst_sd-wan_manager:*).

RemediationAI

Patch available per vendor advisory - upgrade Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager to the fixed release identified in Cisco Security Advisory cisco-sa-sdwan-privesc-4uxFrdzx (https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sdwan-privesc-4uxFrdzx) published May 14, 2026, and additionally review cisco-sa-sdwan-rpa2-v69WY2SW for related fixes. Because Cisco has observed exploitation resulting in malicious configuration pushes to edge devices, after upgrading administrators should audit edge-device running configurations against known-good baselines and revert any unauthorized changes. Cisco does not document a workaround for this CLI flaw, so compensating controls until patching is complete should focus on tightly restricting netadmin role assignments, enforcing MFA on SD-WAN Manager administrative accounts, monitoring CLI file-upload activity and edge-device configuration changes for anomalies, and isolating SD-WAN Manager management interfaces to a dedicated administrative network - noting the trade-off that aggressive access restriction may slow legitimate operations during the upgrade window.