Is CVE-2026-20272 being actively exploited?

CVE-2026-20272 is not currently listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-20272?

CVE-2026-20272 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL).

CVE-2026-20272

CRITICAL · CVSS 9.8EPSS 0.6%EU EUVD

As part of Cisco's ongoing commitment to proactive security and product quality, the Cisco IOS XE Software engineering team has conducted a comprehensive internal security review. This review resulted in software hardening releases that address multiple internally discovered vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities tracked by CVE-2026-20272 are related to issues with improper neutralization of special elements that are grouped under the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) Pillar CWE-74.

Key facts

CVSS score: 9.8 (v3.1)
Severity: CRITICAL
CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE): CWE-74
EPSS score: 0.6% (46th percentile)
In CISA KEV: No
In EU EUVD: Yes (EUVD-2026-53458)
Published: August 5, 2026
NVD last modified: October 3, 2026
Status: Modified

EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD)

This vulnerability is also tracked by ENISA as EUVD-2026-53458 in the EU Vulnerability Database. Last updated in EUVD on August 14, 2026.

View on the EU Vulnerability Database

Affected products

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and 217 more…

Certified products that may be affected

11 FIPS 140 or Common Criteria certified products, from automated matching by sec-certs.org.

Cisco Embedded Services 9300 and 3300 Series Switches (ESS9300 & ESS3300) running IOS-XE 17.15 - Cisco Systems, Inc. - Common Criteria CCEVS-VR-VID-11662-2026 - active
Cisco Catalyst 8000V Edge (C8000V) running IOS-XE 17.15 - Cisco Systems, Inc. - Common Criteria Certificate Number: 2025/161 - active
Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers (C1100), Cisco Catalyst IR1800 Rugged Series Routers (IR1800), Cisco Catalyst IR8300 Rugged Series Routers (IR8300) running IOS-XE 17.15 - Cisco Systems, Inc. - Common Criteria CCEVS-VR-VID-11643-2025 - active
Cisco Catalyst Industrial Ethernet 9300 Rugged Series Switches running IOS-XE 17.15 - Cisco Systems, Inc. - Common Criteria CCEVS-VR-VID-11603-2025 - active
Cisco Aggregation Services Router 1000 Series (ASR1K), Cisco Catalyst 8200, 8300, 8500 Series Edge Routers (Cat8K) running IOS-XE version 17.15 - Cisco Systems, Inc. - Common Criteria CCEVS-VR-VID-11642-2025 - active

See all 11 in the Security Certifications Explorer.

References

Last updated October 4, 2026 · Source: NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org EPSS

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