+44 1865 950 828 Secure Your Business
Actively exploited

CVE-2026-20128 Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Storing Passwords in a Recoverable Format Vulnerability

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager contains a storing passwords in a recoverable format vulnerability that allows an authenticated, local attacker to gain DCA user privileges by accessing a credential file for the DCA user on the filesystem as a low-privileged user.

From the CISA KEV catalogue version 2026.11.06, with Cybergen analysis. Updated 6 Nov 2026.

Our Assessment

Should You Worry?

Patch urgentlyCybergen assessment
  • CISA confirmed exploitation in the wild and added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on 20 Apr 2026.
  • Rated High severity (CVSS 7.5, scored by Vendor).
  • It has been in the catalogue for 200 days. Systems still unpatched now have almost certainly been scanned for it.
The Vulnerability

What It Is

A vulnerability in the Data Collection Agent (DCA) feature of Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to gain DCA user privileges on an affected system. This vulnerability is due to the presence of a credential file for the DCA user on an affected system. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request and reading the file that contains the DCA password from that affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to access another affected system and gain DCA user privileges. Note: Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager releases 20.18 and later are not affected by this vulnerability.

Affected Versions

ProductVersions
Cisco Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager20.1.12
19.2.1
18.4.4
18.4.5
20.1.1.1
20.1.1

From the public CVE record, as supplied by the vendor. Always confirm against the vendor advisory.

From Watch to Action

What To Do Now

  1. 1

    Find it

    Search your asset inventory and external attack surface for Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager. Include cloud images, appliances and anything a supplier runs for you.

    Attack Surface Management
  2. 2

    Fix it

    Please adhere to CISA’s guidelines to assess exposure and mitigate risks associated with Cisco SD-WAN devices as outlines 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.

    Vulnerability Management
  3. 3

    Hunt for compromise

    If an affected system was reachable before you patched, assume it may have been hit. Check logs, new accounts, web shells and outbound connections from the date of exposure.

    Incident Response
  4. 4

    Prove it is fixed

    Rescan or test the system after patching. Upgrades that fail silently and forgotten secondary instances are common.

    Penetration Testing

Vendor Advisories

Regulation

The Compliance Clock

Cyber EssentialsRated high, so if it affects devices in your Cyber Essentials scope, the update must be installed within 14 days of the vendor releasing it.NIS2If exploitation causes a significant incident, essential and important entities owe their CSIRT an early warning within 24 hours and a notification within 72 hours.DORAFinancial entities must classify ICT incidents and send an initial notification for a major incident within strict deadlines, with exploited flaws a common cause.US federal (BOD 22-01)Federal civilian agencies had until 23 Apr 2026 to remediate. A sensible benchmark for everyone else.

General guidance, not legal advice. Your obligations depend on your sector, scope and jurisdiction.

Stay Ahead

More Exploited Cisco Flaws

Get alerts for CiscoWe email you when a new Cisco vulnerability is confirmed as exploited. Add more vendors on Threat Watch.

By signing up you agree to receive Threat Watch alerts. Unsubscribe at any time. See our Privacy Policy.

CVE-2026-76418Cisco Secure Firewall ASA Software and Cisco Secure FTD Software Unchecked Return Value to NULL Pointer Dereference VulnerabilityAdded 29 Oct 2026CVE-2026-76519Cisco Secure Email Gateway Relative Path Traversal VulnerabilityAdded 14 Oct 2026CVE-2026-76504Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Hex Encoding VulnerabilityAdded 30 Sep 2026CVE-2026-76460Cisco Identity Services Engine Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs VulnerabilityAdded 16 Sep 2026CVE-2026-76461Cisco Secure Email Gateway SQL Injection VulnerabilityAdded 14 Sep 2026CVE-2026-20079Cisco Firewall Management Center Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel VulnerabilityAdded 9 Sep 2026

All 102 exploited Cisco vulnerabilities

Not Sure If You Are Exposed?

Our attack surface and vulnerability teams can check your internet-facing estate for CVE-2026-20128 and every other exploited flaw on the list.

Check My Exposure
Evidence

Sources

  1. CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue
  2. NVD: CVE-2026-20128
  3. CVE record: CVE-2026-20128
  4. FIRST EPSS
  5. cisa.gov/news-events/directives/supplemental-direction-ed-26-03-hunt-and-hardening-guidance-cisco-sd
  6. sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sdwan-authbp-qwCX8D4v