cisco sd-wan manager rest api auth bypass to root priv escalation
CVE-2026-20126 Published on February 25, 2026

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
A vulnerability in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager could allow an authenticated, local attacker with low privileges to gain root privileges on the underlying operating system. This vulnerability is due to an insufficient user authentication mechanism in the REST API. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a request to the REST API of the affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to gain root privileges on the underlying operating system.

NVD

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2026-20126 is exploitable with network access, and requires small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.

Attack Vector:
NETWORK
Attack Complexity:
LOW
Privileges Required:
LOW
User Interaction:
NONE
Scope:
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
HIGH
Integrity Impact:
HIGH
Availability Impact:
HIGH

Weakness Type

Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs

The application does not conform to the API requirements for a function call that requires extra privileges. This could allow attackers to gain privileges by causing the function to be called incorrectly.


Products Associated with CVE-2026-20126

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Affected Versions

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager:

Exploit Probability

EPSS
0.04%
Percentile
12.73%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.