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Critical · 10.0 Known exploited Public exploit CVE-2026-20182 EUVD-2026-30324GHSA-p83j-mxpw-gqpj

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

Published May 14, 2026 · Updated Jun 16, 2026 · Assigned by cisco

Vendor: Cisco Product: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Product: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Category: Network devices

Description

May 2026: This security advisory provides the details and fix information for a vulnerability that was discovered and fixed after the was disclosed in February 2026. This new advisory is for a new vulnerability in the control connection handshaking. The section of this advisory includes Show Control Connections guidance to help with system checks. 

A vulnerability in the peering authentication in 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 unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication and obtain administrative privileges on an affected system.
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 the affected system. 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.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller 20.6.4, 20.9.2, 20.3.6, 20.7.2, 20.7.1, 20.5.1, 20.6.2, 19.3.0, 20.6.1, 17.2.4, 18.2.0, 18.4.6, 19.1.0, 19.2.4, 19.2.929, 18.3.8, 18.4.303, 18.3.7, 18.4.1, 19.2.097, 19.2.0, 19.2.099, 18.3.6, 20.4.2, 19.0.0, 20.9.1, 20.3.5, 20.3.1, 18.3.5, 20.6.3, 18.4.3, 18.4.4, 18.3.3, 17.2.8, 20.8.1, 19.2.32, 19… —
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager 20.1.12, 19.2.1, 18.4.4, 18.4.5, 20.1.1.1, 20.1.1, 19.2.099, 18.3.6, 18.3.7, 19.2.0, 19.1.0, 18.4.303, 19.2.098, 18.3.6.1, 18.2.0, 17.2.8, 18.3.3.1, 18.4.0, 18.3.1, 17.2.6, 17.2.9, 17.2.5, 18.4.0.1, 18.3.3, 18.3.0, 19.2.3, 18.4.501_ES, 20.1.2, 19.2.929, 19.2.31, 20.3.2, 19.2.4, 19.2.4.0.9, 20.1.3.1 —

Public exploits

Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.

Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.

Metasploit 1 module

GitHub 2 repositories

Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.

Advisories 2

References