CVE-2022-20739: Cisco SD-WAN vManage Software Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Severity: high (CVSS 7.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2022-04-15 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-269

Description

A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco SD-WAN vManage Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system as the root user. The attacker must be authenticated on the affected system as a low-privileged user to exploit this vulnerability. This vulnerability exists because a file leveraged by a root user is executed when a low-privileged user runs specific commands on an affected system. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by injecting arbitrary commands to a specific file as a lower-privileged user and then waiting until an admin user executes specific commands. The commands would then be executed on the device by the root user. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to escalate their privileges on the affected system from a low-privileged user to the root user.

Affected products

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager: 20.7
Cisco Sd-Wan Vmanage: before 20.6.1 — fixed in 20.6.1

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Cisco Sd-Wan Vmanage 20.6.1. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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