Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller & Manager contain an authentication bypass vulnerability that allows an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication and obtain administrative privileges on an affected system.
A remote attacker, without authentication, can achieve full data confidentiality loss, arbitrary modification of data, complete denial of service or system unavailability. Federal agencies are required to remediate by 2026-05-17 under CISA BOD 22-01.
This is a Improper Authentication (CWE-287) vulnerability in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN. 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. Exploitation requires remote network access, low attack complexity, no authentication required, and no user interaction required.
📧
Phishing link
🖼
Malicious file
🔓
Server compromised
Probably yes if any of these apply:
CISA added this CVE to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-05-14 based on evidence of active exploitation in the wild. Federal agencies required to remediate by 2026-05-17.
Manual remediation steps
Apply the Vendor Patch
This vulnerability is in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog — apply the vendor's security update as soon as possible.
CISA required action: 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.
References
No tested PowerShell script for this entry yet. We’re prioritising automation based on user demand.
References