← All CVEs

CVE-2026-20271

HIGH 8.6

Published 2026-08-05 · Last modified 2026-08-14

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-2026-20271 are related to insufficient control flow management issues that are grouped under the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) Pillar CWE-691.  

ELEVATED IMPACT

Severe if exploited (CVSS 8.6), but no known exploitation and low modeled probability. Patch on a normal cadence.

Exploitation likelihood

0.3%chance of exploitation in 30 days · 19th percentile

○ In CISA KEV ○ Public exploit / PoC

Impact if exploited

8.6CVSS 3.1 · HIGH

  • ConfidentialityNone
  • IntegrityNone
  • AvailabilityHigh

What an attacker needs

  • Access: Reachable over the network — no local access needed
  • Privileges: No account or privileges required
  • User interaction: No user interaction needed
  • Complexity: No special conditions — reliably repeatable

✓ lowers the bar for an attacker · ⚠ raises it

Proof of concept & exploit code

Test against your own equipment

curl -s https://vulnpedia.com/cve/CVE-2026-20271/poc.jsonMachine-readable PoC index for this CVE (for automation).

Listed for defensive triage, patch verification, and authorized testing on systems you own. Machine-readable: /cve/CVE-2026-20271/poc.json

Affected

Vendors Cisco

Products Cisco Ios Xe Software Ios Xe

Weakness (CWE)

  • CWE-691: Insufficient Control Flow Management

CVSS vector

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

Known Affected Software Configurations

VendorProductVersion range
CiscoIos Xe16.6.2
CiscoIos Xe16.6.3
CiscoIos Xe16.6.4
CiscoIos Xe16.6.4a
CiscoIos Xe16.6.4s
CiscoIos Xe16.6.5
CiscoIos Xe16.6.5a
CiscoIos Xe16.6.5b
CiscoIos Xe16.6.6
CiscoIos Xe16.6.7
CiscoIos Xe16.6.7a
CiscoIos Xe16.6.8
CiscoIos Xe16.6.9
CiscoIos Xe16.6.10
CiscoIos Xe16.7.1
CiscoIos Xe16.7.1a
CiscoIos Xe16.7.1b
CiscoIos Xe16.7.2
CiscoIos Xe16.7.3
CiscoIos Xe16.7.4
CiscoIos Xe16.8.1
CiscoIos Xe16.8.1a
CiscoIos Xe16.8.1b
CiscoIos Xe16.8.1c
CiscoIos Xe16.8.1d
CiscoIos Xe16.8.1e
CiscoIos Xe16.8.1s
CiscoIos Xe16.8.2
CiscoIos Xe16.8.3
CiscoIos Xe16.9.1
CiscoIos Xe16.9.1a
CiscoIos Xe16.9.1b
CiscoIos Xe16.9.1c
CiscoIos Xe16.9.1d
CiscoIos Xe16.9.1s
CiscoIos Xe16.9.2
CiscoIos Xe16.9.2a
CiscoIos Xe16.9.2s
CiscoIos Xe16.9.3
CiscoIos Xe16.9.3a
CiscoIos Xe16.9.3h
CiscoIos Xe16.9.3s
CiscoIos Xe16.9.4
CiscoIos Xe16.9.4c
CiscoIos Xe16.9.5
CiscoIos Xe16.9.5f
CiscoIos Xe16.9.6
CiscoIos Xe16.9.7
CiscoIos Xe16.9.8
CiscoIos Xe16.9.8a
CiscoIos Xe16.9.8b
CiscoIos Xe16.10.1
CiscoIos Xe16.10.1a
CiscoIos Xe16.10.1b
CiscoIos Xe16.10.1c
CiscoIos Xe16.10.1d
CiscoIos Xe16.10.1e
CiscoIos Xe16.10.1f
CiscoIos Xe16.10.1g
CiscoIos Xe16.10.1s
CiscoIos Xe16.10.2
CiscoIos Xe16.10.3
CiscoIos Xe16.11.1
CiscoIos Xe16.11.1a
CiscoIos Xe16.11.1b
CiscoIos Xe16.11.1c
CiscoIos Xe16.11.1s
CiscoIos Xe16.11.2
CiscoIos Xe16.12.1
CiscoIos Xe16.12.1a
CiscoIos Xe16.12.1c
CiscoIos Xe16.12.1s
CiscoIos Xe16.12.1t
CiscoIos Xe16.12.1w
CiscoIos Xe16.12.1x
CiscoIos Xe16.12.1y
CiscoIos Xe16.12.1z
CiscoIos Xe16.12.1z1
CiscoIos Xe16.12.1z2
CiscoIos Xe16.12.2
CiscoIos Xe16.12.2a
CiscoIos Xe16.12.2s
CiscoIos Xe16.12.2t
CiscoIos Xe16.12.3
CiscoIos Xe16.12.3a
CiscoIos Xe16.12.3s
CiscoIos Xe16.12.4
CiscoIos Xe16.12.4a
CiscoIos Xe16.12.5
CiscoIos Xe16.12.5a
CiscoIos Xe16.12.5b
CiscoIos Xe16.12.6
CiscoIos Xe16.12.6a
CiscoIos Xe16.12.7
CiscoIos Xe16.12.8
CiscoIos Xe16.12.9
CiscoIos Xe16.12.10
CiscoIos Xe16.12.10a
CiscoIos Xe16.12.11
CiscoIos Xe16.12.12
CiscoIos Xe16.12.13
CiscoIos Xe16.12.14
CiscoIos Xe16.12.15
CiscoIos Xe16.12.16
CiscoIos Xe17.1.1
CiscoIos Xe17.1.1a
CiscoIos Xe17.1.1s
CiscoIos Xe17.1.1t
CiscoIos Xe17.1.2
CiscoIos Xe17.1.3
CiscoIos Xe17.2.1
CiscoIos Xe17.2.1a
CiscoIos Xe17.2.1r
CiscoIos Xe17.2.1v
CiscoIos Xe17.2.2
CiscoIos Xe17.2.3
CiscoIos Xe17.3.1
CiscoIos Xe17.3.1a
CiscoIos Xe17.3.1w
CiscoIos Xe17.3.1x

Showing 120 of 250+ configuration entries. Full list on NVD.

All CVSS metrics

  • HIGH 8.6 v3.1 · CNA Primary
    CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
  • HIGH 8.6 v3.1 · NVD Secondary
    CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

Sources: NVD · CVE.org · EPSS