What is CVE-2026-20079?

CVE-2026-20079 is Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Authentication Bypass Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. The supplied enrichment data classifies it as Auth Bypass mapped to CWE-288 Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path.

Which versions are affected?

Affected product and version evidence is listed in the product table above. Current public advisories should be checked for exact version scope before patch targeting is finalized.

Is there active exploitation?

Yes: CISA KEV signal present. If exploitation is not confirmed from current sources, teams should document that status and continue monitoring KEV, vendor, and telemetry updates.

Is there a public exploit?

15 public PoC repositories reported; 1 marked weaponized in current dataset. Public exploit or PoC availability should raise triage priority, especially for exposed or business-critical systems.

How can defenders detect it?

Start with web/proxy/WAF logs, application logs, network IDS/IPS, identity provider logs, authentication audit logs where available. Look for vulnerability-class behavior, product errors, suspicious authentication events, exploit probes, and abnormal process activity based only on evidence that applies to the affected product.

How should teams prioritize it?

Prioritize CVE-2026-20079 using CVSS 10, EPSS 88%, KEV status, public PoC status, and asset exposure. Internet-facing, privileged, or business-critical deployments should be handled first.

Are workarounds available?

The supplied mitigation guidance says to apply vendor patches and restrict external exposure until fixed. Fixed-version evidence is listed in the mitigation section above.

Which threat actors are linked publicly?

Publicly linked actor or ransomware signals in the supplied enrichment data: UTA0533 (). Do not attribute exploitation to a threat actor unless the source evidence explicitly supports that linkage.

What should be done in the next 24 hours?

Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations. Treat as emergency remediation because CISA KEV status is present. Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class. Open remediation tickets with affected assets, owners, evidence status, and detection coverage so decisions are traceable.

CISA KEVcriticalAuth Bypasspublic exploit

CVE-2026-20079

CVE-2026-20079 — Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Authentication Bypass Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Q: Is it in CISA KEV?

Yes. The supplied enrichment data lists CVE-2026-20079 in CISA KEV with 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.. KEV status should be monitored because it can change after initial disclosure or after exploitation becomes publicly confirmed.

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.

Published Mar 4, 2026Updated Sep 16, 2026Sources: NVD, Cisco (CNA), CISA, FIRST EPSS, GitHub, GitHub Security Advisory, SOCRadar CTI

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.

Exploitation

Confirmed

CISA KEV, listed Sep 9, 2026

EPSS

88%

ahead of 99.8% of scored CVEs

Affects

Cisco

72 products listed

CVSS base

critical

CISA SSVC assessment

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses · SSVC 2.0.3. A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

CISA

Exploitation

Active

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

Yes

can an attacker script all four kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Total

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

The vendor's own words where we have them.

Upgrade Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) to a fixed release. Apply vendor patches per advisory and restrict external exposure of the affected component until patched.

CISA 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.

Federal deadline Sep 12, 2026 — passed 18 days ago

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record's own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found.

Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations.
Treat as emergency remediation because CISA KEV status is present.
Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and version as the advisories word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status
Cisco	Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)	7.0.0	Vulnerable
Cisco	Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)	7.0.0.1	Vulnerable
Cisco	Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)	7.0.1	Vulnerable
Cisco	Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)	7.1.0	Vulnerable
Cisco	Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)	7.0.1.1	Vulnerable
Cisco	Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)	7.1.0.1	Vulnerable
Cisco	Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)	7.0.2	Vulnerable
Cisco	Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)	7.2.0	Vulnerable
Cisco	Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)	7.0.2.1	Vulnerable
Cisco	Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)	7.0.3	Vulnerable
Cisco	Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)	7.1.0.2	Vulnerable
Cisco	Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)	7.2.0.1	Vulnerable

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Availability

High

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Scope

Changed

Attack Complexity

Low

Attack Vector

Network

Privileges Req

None

User Interaction

None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Source
10	CVSS 3.1	critical	3.9	6	Cisco (CNA), GHSA

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

What this weakness leads to

MITRE's own consequences and mitigations for the weakness class — the authority's wording, not guidance derived from the CVSS vector.

MITRE

CWE-288 · Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel

Bypass Protection Mechanism::

Mitigation: Funnel all access through a single choke point to simplify how users can access a resource. For every access, perform a check to determine if the user has permissions to access the resource.::

Weakness & attack patterns

CWE-288Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path

Attack patterns reported against this CVE. The ATT&CK techniques below are inferred from its weakness class.

CAPEC-127 · Directory Indexing

T1083File and Directory Discovery
T1211Exploitation for Defensive Evasion
T1542.002Pre-OS Boot: Component Firmware

CISA KEV details

CISA lists a CVE here once it has evidence of exploitation against real targets.

CISAThat month →

Listed

Sep 9, 2026

Federal deadline

Sep 12, 2026

passed 18 days ago

Ransomware use

Unknown

CISA records ransomware use only for campaigns it has confirmed, so “Unknown” means unrecorded, not ruled out. The deadline binds US federal agencies; for everyone else it is a date to argue against.

Public exploit

Capability, not use: code existing is a different claim from anyone running it.

Repositories

1 of the 5 sampled are weaponized

Exploit entries

Exploit-DB and CTI exploit indexes

Social mentions

Posts naming this CVE. Attention, not evidence of exploitation — it spikes on disclosure and decays whether or not anything is exploited.

21 more posts on this CVEShowing 5 of 26 · Who is discussing this CVE, and how loudlyUnlock free

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not rules we have tested.

Prioritize edge telemetry for network-reachable Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC).
Monitor for scanner or exploit-pattern traffic after 15 public PoC repositories were reported.

web/proxy/WAF logsapplication logsnetwork IDS/IPSidentity provider logsauthentication audit logs

Groups associated with this CVE

Groups reported in connection with this vulnerability. A reported association, not a confirmed observation of that group using it — and not scoped to any sector or campaign.

UTA0533

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first — with the readings a source repeats on a schedule counted underneath rather than listed.

2026
Added · CVSS 3.1 10.0 (AV:N)
Sep 16, 2026 · NVD
Added to CISA KEV catalog
Sep 9, 2026 · CISA
Cve is exploited CyberAuth/CVE-2026-20079
Aug 18, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
Initial · CVE published
Mar 4, 2026 · NVD
Added · GHSA-mv8w-c2qv-cgrg published (critical)
Mar 4, 2026 · GitHub Security Advisory

Source activity

Readings a source repeats on a schedule, counted rather than listed.

27×SVRS was changedApr 3, 2026 – Sep 5, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
9×TweetsApr 14, 2026 – Aug 19, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
1×Github_Repos · Github repository created, CyberAuth/CVE-2026-20079Aug 17, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
1×CVE modified by MITRE: CVSS metrics updated.Jul 29, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
1×1 time mentioned on 1 Telegram channelApr 30, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI

References

8 on the record

sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-onprem-fmc-authbypass-5JPp45V2
Vendor Advisory, NIST, Mitre
seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2026/Aug/80
Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory, NIST, GITHUB
blog.talosintelligence.com/fmc-ongoing-exploitation/
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Vendor Advisory
www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-20079
US Government Resource
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-20079
NVD, Vendor Advisory
github.com/advisories/GHSA-mv8w-c2qv-cgrg
Exploit, Third Party Advisory
www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/bod-26-04-prioritizing-security-updates-based-risk
US Government Resource
www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/bod-26-04-implementation-guidance-prioritizing-security-updates-based-risk
US Government Resource

Coverage

24 stories from the feeds we poll

19 more reports on this CVEShowing 5 of 24 · Vendor research and security press coverageUnlock free

Elsewhere on this site

Ciscoevery CVE for this vendor
September 2026what else CISA listed
Auth Bypasssame class
CWE-288other pages naming this weakness

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record1

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-20079 is Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Authentication Bypass Remote Code Execution Vulnerability, a critical vulnerability affecting Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) from Cisco. The current evidence lists it in CISA KEV, and the exploit status is: Yes: CISA KEV signal present. Public exploit evidence is: 15 public PoC repositories reported; 1 marked weaponized in current dataset. The affected-version evidence is listed in the key facts and affected products tables. Defenders should first verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run those versions, then apply vendor patches or mitigations, restrict reachable attack surface, and preserve logs for detection review. CVSS 10 describes technical severity, while EPSS 88% helps estimate near-term exploit likelihood; neither replaces asset context. Unknown fields should remain explicit in tickets, and threat actor, IOC, victimology, or payload claims should not be added unless a cited source supports them. Monitor CISA KEV, vendor advisories, NVD changes, public PoC repositories, and internal telemetry for update triggers.