Cisco · Catalyst SD-WAN Manager · Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Storing Passwords in a Recoverable Format Vulnerability
Verdict
Patch on your normal cycle · actively exploited, not reachable unauthenticated from the internet, and in the top 10% of CVEs by near-term exploitation probability
Added to CISA KEV 2026-04-20 · exploited in the wild for 160 days
CVSS 7.5 HIGH. The score is a summary; these three components are the part that decides whether something scanning the internet can use it.
| Attack vector | localrequires local access to the machine |
|---|---|
| Privileges required | highneeds elevated privileges before it can be used |
| User interaction | nonecan be triggered with nobody interacting with the page or request |
| Base vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| Weakness | CWE-257 |
This describes the vulnerability. It says nothing about whether your systems run it.
EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.0780, which places it in the top 10% of all tracked CVEs. The percentile is the more useful half: 0.18 in absolute terms sounds low until you know most of the internet-facing software in the world scores under that.
| EPSS probability | 0.0780 |
|---|---|
| Percentile | 0.945 — top 10% |
| Added to KEV | 2026-04-20 |
|---|---|
| Days exploited | 160 |
| Federal remediation due | not set |
| Ransomware use | no known ransomware campaign use |
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.
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.