CVE-2026-20272
Cisco IOS XE Software Security Hardening Release
Public exploit available. Not confirmed exploited in the wild yet. A vendor fix is available.
What to do
The vendor has published a fix. Version details are below where the sources state them.
What it is
From the CVE record
As part of Cisco's ongoing commitment to proactive security and product quality, the Cisco IOS XE Software engineering team has conducted a comprehensive internal security review. This review resulted in software hardening releases that address multiple internally discovered vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities tracked by CVE-2026-20272 are related to issues with improper neutralization of special elements that are grouped under the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) Pillar CWE-74.
In plain language
No plain-language summary for this CVE yet.
Exploitation
Where each signal puts this CVE on the scale from published to confirmed exploited.
- CISA KEV
Not in the catalog. CISA has not confirmed exploitation.
- Public exploits
0 sources with a proof of concept or module.
Exploit links, PoCs and Metasploit modules after sign-in- EPSS
0.6% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the 45th percentile of scored CVEs.
Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST.org. A probability, not a confirmation.
Lifecycle
11 events over 9 days, from the signal feeds we watch.
- Patch availablerecord updated
- Patch availablerecord updated
- OpenVAS check added
- Record updatedrecord updated
- Publishedweakness classified, att&ck mapped, record updated
Affected products
Technical detail
CVSS 3.1 vector
Open in the CVSS calculatorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Scored 9.8 by NVD.
How it is reached
- Attack Vector NetworkExploitable remotely over the network without any special conditions
- Attack Complexity LowNo special conditions — the attack can be reliably reproduced
- Privileges Required NoneNo authentication required — anyone can exploit this
- User Interaction NoneNo user interaction needed — fully automated exploitation
Scope
- Scope UnchangedImpact is limited to the vulnerable component itself
Impact if exploited
- Confidentiality HighTotal information disclosure — all data in the component is compromised
- Integrity HighTotal loss of integrity — attacker can modify any data in the component
- Availability HighTotal denial of service — the component is completely unavailable
Weaknesses
ATT&CK techniques
Mapped from the weaknesses above (CWE to ATT&CK), not observed in attacks.
Sources
References in the record
In the news
- ⚡ Weekly Recap: AI Goes Rogue, Metabase 0-Day, MCP Supply-Chain Attacks, and Router Backdoors
- Cisco Patches 12 SD-WAN and IOS XE Flaws, Including Three 9.8 CVSS Score Bugs
- Critical Cisco IMC bug gives attackers root, PoC is out (CVE-2026-20200)
- Cisco Patches Critical SD-WAN, IOS XE, FMC Vulnerabilities
Watch the software you run.
My Stack ranks new CVEs for your products by real-world exploitation, so the next serious one reaches you without reading every advisory.
We'll flag the next CVE, public exploit or patch for Cisco IOS XE Software, not every advisory. This one: public exploit.
A free account adds
- The full version matrix and every affected product
- Exploit links, proofs of concept and Metasploit modules
- Email alerts for the products you watch
- The same data over REST API, MCP and CLI