Skip to content
EXYS
Back to the CVEs

CVE-2026-20079

10, critical Known exploited

Cisco Firewall Management Center Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel Vulnerability

NVD (opens in a new tab) CVE.org (opens in a new tab) CISA KEV catalogue (opens in a new tab)
CVSS
10, critical critical CVSS v3.1
EPSS, next 30 days
88% higher than 99.7% of scored CVEs
Exploitation
Confirmed in the wild
Published
4 Mar 20267 months ago

Known exploited

CISA added this to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog on 9 Sept 2026. US federal agencies had to remediate by 12 Sept 2026, a deadline that has passed.

Required action. Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.

Description

A vulnerability in the web interface of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication and execute script files on an affected device to obtain root access to the underlying operating system. This vulnerability is due to an improper system process that is created at boot time. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted HTTP requests to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute a variety of scripts and commands that allow root access to the device.

Details

Vendor
Cisco
Product
Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)
Weakness
CWE-288 (opens in a new tab)
Status
Analyzed
Updated
16 Sept 2026
Assigner
psirt@cisco.com

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

References 4

Exploit code 2

Advisories 1

Other references 1

The kind is read from NVD's tags where present and from the shape of the URL otherwise, so treat it as a hint.

Other Cisco CVEs

Every Cisco CVE we hold

Same vendor in what we hold, not a known link between the flaws.

  • CVE-2026-76519 Cisco Secure Email Gateway Relative Path Traversal Vulnerability KEV EPSS 2% 9.8, critical
  • CVE-2026-76504 Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Hex Encoding Vulnerability KEV EPSS 2% 9.8, critical
  • CVE-2026-76460 Cisco Identity Services Engine Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs Vulnerability KEV EPSS 14% 10, critical
  • CVE-2026-76461 Cisco Secure Email Gateway SQL Injection Vulnerability KEV EPSS 30% 9.8, critical
  • CVE-2026-20349 Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Heap Inspection Vulnerability KEV EPSS 1% 8.6, high
  • CVE-2026-20316 Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Use of Hard-coded Password Vulnerability KEV EPSS 35% 5.3, medium
  • CVE-2026-20262 Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Directory or Path Traversal Vulnerability KEV EPSS 28% 6.5, medium
  • CVE-2026-20245 Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output Vulnerability KEV EPSS 25% 7.8, high

Beyond this page

Is CVE-2026-20079 in your network?

This page tells you how dangerous CVE-2026-20079 is out there. Whether it sits on one of your devices, only a scan of your own network can tell. That is what our systems do, every day, for the companies we protect.

CVE-2026-20079 is in the CISA catalogue of exploited vulnerabilities: attackers are already exploiting it.

  • EXYS7600 OCELOT

    Find it before attackers do

    Ocelot scans your network on a schedule and reports every vulnerability it finds by its CVE identifier, with its CVSS score and how many of your hosts are affected. A finding like CVE-2026-20079 comes with the devices to patch.

    Learn more about EXYS7600 OCELOT

  • EXYS7950 KONDRA

    Detect it if it's exploited

    Until the patch is applied, Kondra monitors your network, events and endpoints in real time. It keeps an inventory of the software installed on every endpoint, and its anomaly detection rules flag what an attacker does once inside.

    Learn more about EXYS7950 KONDRA
Check your exposure

Assembled from the NVD 2.0 API, the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog and FIRST EPSS. Scores are as of our last collection on 17 Oct 2026, not the live upstream state.