How severe is CVE-2026-20182?

CVE-2026-20182 has a CVSS score of 10/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2026-20182?

Affected package information for CVE-2026-20182 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I fix CVE-2026-20182?

No fixed version has been published for CVE-2026-20182 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates, apply mitigations recommended by the vendor, and use O3 Security to track when a fix becomes available in your stack.

Is CVE-2026-20182 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2026-20182 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2026-20182?

CVE-2026-20182 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 83.8%, placing it in the 99th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is CVE-2026-20182 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2026-20182 (Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authentication Bypass Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2026-05-14. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2026-05-17. The required action was: 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. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2026-20182?

CVE-2026-20182 is classified as Improper Authentication (CWE-287). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2026-20182?

CVE-2026-20182 affects cisco catalyst sd-wan manager (1 version, e.g. 20.12.7); cisco sd-wan vsmart controller (1 version, e.g. 20.12.7). Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

When was CVE-2026-20182 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2026-20182 was published on May 14, 2026 and was last updated on May 15, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CVE-2026-20182: Catalyst Sd-Wan Manager Improper Authentication…

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

83.8%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk99th percentile+3.30%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

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, and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, formerly SD-WAN vManage, 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

2 products · 16 configurations

Application

catalyst sd-wan managercisco

≥ 26.1 && < 26.1.1.1

1 version

20.12.7

Application

sd-wan vsmart controllercisco

≥ 26.1 && < 26.1.1.1

1 version

20.12.7

Frequently Asked Questions

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, and Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, formerly SD-WAN vManage, could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2026-20182 in your stack?

O3 detects CVE-2026-20182 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

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