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Review reviewCritical

CVE-2026-20272

Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software

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.

CVSS
9.8
EPSS
0.34%
27.0% percentile
CISA KEV
Not listed
Published
2026.08.06
PRIORITY ASSESSMENT

Review review

The CVSS severity warrants an early asset and exposure review.

Known exploitationNot established by KEV
Exploit probability0.34%
Technical severityCVSS 9.8

Vulnerability overview

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.

Affected product and versions

Product
Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software
Affected versions
>= 17.2.1a, >= 16.12.1y, >= 16.12.3s, >= 16.7.1b, >= 16.6.2, >= 16.6.5, >= 16.12.1w, >= 16.9.1d, >= 17.3.1, >= 16.9.4c, >= 16.7.1, >= 17.2.1, >= 16.6.8, >= 16.9.1b, >= 16.9.2s, >= 16.12.4, >= 16.12.3a, >= 17.1.1s, >= 16.11.1a, >= 16.7.2
Fixed versions
No verified fixed-version field is available yet

Recommended response sequence

Confirm exposure before applying a vendor-supported change.

Full remediation guide
  1. 1
    Identify

    Confirm that Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software and an affected version are present.

  2. 2
    Prioritize

    Combine exploitation signals with asset exposure and business criticality.

  3. 3
    Remediate

    Follow the vendor advisory or supported update path and preserve rollback options.

  4. 4
    Verify

    Recheck the version, service health, access paths, and relevant logs.

Technical data

CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE
CWE-74