Actively exploited in the wild
Cisco Firewall Management Center Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel Vulnerability
Cisco - Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) and Security Cloud Control (SCC) Firewall Management · Listed in the CISA KEV since 2026-09-09. This indicates confirmed attacks in production environments.
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.
CVE-2026-20079
CriticalCVSS 10.0KEVExploitation Probability (EPSS)
Very high risk100th percentile - higher than 100% of all known CVEs
Summary
A vulnerability in the web interface of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software allows an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication and execute script files to obtain root access to the underlying operating system. This is due to an improper system process created at boot time.
Risk Assessment
An attacker can gain full root control over the device, compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and potentially taking over the entire security infrastructure.
Recommendation
Apply the update provided by Cisco for Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) as soon as it becomes available.
Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center
See all- CVE-2026-20242Critical
Vulnerability in the External Database Access feature of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root. It is due to insecure deserialization of a user-supplied Java byte stream from a host in the external database access list.
- CVE-2026-20044Medium
A vulnerability in the lockdown mechanism of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to perform arbitrary commands as root. This is due to insufficient restrictions on remediation modules while in lockdown mode. An attacker could exploit this by sending crafted input to the system CLI.
Original NVD description (English source)
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.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS