CVE-2026-20040
A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying operating system of an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user arguments that are passed to specific CLI commands. An attacker with a low-privileged account could exploit this vulnerability by using crafted commands at the prompt. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to elevate privileges to root and execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system.
Key facts
- CVSS score
- 8.8 (v3.1)
- Severity
- HIGH
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H- Weakness (CWE)
- CWE-78
- EPSS score
- 0.2% (7th percentile)
- In CISA KEV
- No
- In EU EUVD
- Yes (EUVD-2026-11214)
- Published
- March 11, 2026
- NVD last modified
- July 1, 2026
- Status
- Analyzed
EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD)
This vulnerability is also tracked by ENISA as EUVD-2026-11214 in the EU Vulnerability Database. Last updated in EUVD on March 12, 2026.
View on the EU Vulnerability DatabaseAffected products
- cisco / ios xr
Certified products that may be affected
1 FIPS 140 or Common Criteria certified product, from automated matching by sec-certs.org.
- Cisco Network Convergence System 540, 5500 and 5700 (NCS540, NCS5500, NCS5700) Series running IOS-XR, version 7.4.1 - Cisco Systems, Inc. - Common Criteria NSCIB-CC-23-0597525-CR - active
References
Last updated September 17, 2026 · Source: NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org EPSS
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