Vulnerability Intelligence Report
Cisco IOS XE Software Security Hardening Release
CVE-2026-20272
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.
No Active Exploit Signals
CVSS Base Score
9.8
CRITICAL
Exploitability:3.9
Impact Score:5.9
EPSS Probability:0.34%
Executive Threat Verdict
Evaluating...
Evaluating Threat Landscape...
Assessing known weaponization, exploitation telemetry, and federal advisories.
Attack Surface
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Authentication
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Weaponization
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SSVC Action
—
Weaknesses (CWE)
CWE-74 ↗Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component ('Injection')
Affected Products & Versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco | Cisco IOS XE Software | 17.2.1a (affected), 16.12.1y (affected), 16.12.3s (affected), 16.7.1b (affected), 16.6.2 (affected), 16.6.5 (affected), 16.12.1w (affected), 16.9.1d (affected), 17.3.1 (affected), 16.9.4c (affected), 16.7.1 (affected), 17.2.1 (affected), 16.6.8 (affected), 16.9.1b (affected), 16.9.2s (affected), 16.12.4 (affected), 16.12.3a (affected), 17.1.1s (affected), 16.11.1a (affected), 16.7.2 (affected), 16.11.1b (affected), 16.9.1s (affected), 16.9.3h (affected), 16.9.1c (affected), 16.6.5a (affected), 16.6.3 (affected), 16.10.1f (affected), 17.2.1v (affected), 16.8.1e (affected), 16.9.3a (affected), 16.12.1a (affected), 16.12.1x (affected), 16.6.4s (affected), 16.10.1c (affected), 16.12.3 (affected), 16.11.2 (affected), 16.6.5b (affected), 16.12.2s (affected), 16.10.1b (affected), 16.7.3 (affected), 16.6.7 (affected), 16.9.6 (affected), 16.9.2 (affected), 16.10.1 (affected), 16.12.1t (affected), 16.9.1 (affected), 16.8.1a (affected), 16.9.3s (affected), 16.6.7a (affected), 16.12.2 (affected), 16.11.1 (affected), 16.9.3 (affected), 16.11.1s (affected), 16.12.1 (affected), 17.1.1 (affected), 17.1.2 (affected), 16.10.1d (affected), 17.1.1t (affected), 16.9.4 (affected), 16.8.3 (affected), 16.12.2t (affected), 16.9.5 (affected), 16.8.1s (affected), 16.10.1e (affected), 16.8.2 (affected), 16.6.4 (affected), 16.8.1b (affected), 16.10.1a (affected), 16.12.1z (affected), 16.8.1c (affected), 16.9.1a (affected), 16.9.5f (affected), 16.6.4a (affected), 16.10.1g (affected), 16.8.1 (affected), 16.6.6 (affected), 16.9.2a (affected), 16.8.1d (affected), 16.10.3 (affected), 16.7.1a (affected), 16.11.1c (affected), 16.10.1s (affected), 17.2.1r (affected), 17.1.1a (affected), 16.10.2 (affected), 16.12.2a (affected), 16.12.1c (affected), 16.12.1s (affected), 16.7.4 (affected), 17.2.2 (affected), 16.9.8 (affected), 16.9.7 (affected), 17.1.3 (affected), 17.3.1a (affected), 17.3.2a (affected), 16.12.5 (affected), 17.3.1w (affected), 17.3.2 (affected), 17.4.1 (affected), 16.12.4a (affected), 17.4.1a (affected), 17.3.1x (affected), 17.3.3 (affected), 16.6.9 (affected), 17.2.3 (affected), 17.5.1 (affected), 16.12.1z1 (affected), 16.12.5a (affected), 17.4.1b (affected), 17.3.1z (affected), 16.12.5b (affected), 17.4.2 (affected), 17.3.3a (affected), 17.3.5 (affected), 17.3.4 (affected), 17.5.1a (affected), 16.12.6 (affected), 17.6.1 (affected), 16.12.1z2 (affected), 16.6.10 (affected), 17.3.4a (affected), 17.6.1a (affected), 17.7.1 (affected), 17.6.1x (affected), 17.6.2 (affected), 16.12.6a (affected), 17.3.4c (affected), 17.4.2a (affected), 17.3.4b (affected), 17.7.1a (affected), 16.12.7 (affected), 17.8.1a (affected), 17.6.3a (affected), 17.6.3 (affected), 17.7.2 (affected), 17.7.1b (affected), 17.9.1w (affected), 17.3.5a (affected), 17.6.1z (affected), 16.12.8 (affected), 17.8.1 (affected), 17.9.1 (affected), 17.6.4 (affected), 17.3.5b (affected), 17.9.1a (affected), 17.3.6 (affected), 17.10.1 (affected), 16.9.8a (affected), 17.6.1z1 (affected), 17.10.1a (affected), 17.9.2 (affected), 17.6.5 (affected), 17.9.1x (affected), 17.9.1y (affected), 16.9.8b (affected), 17.3.7 (affected), 17.9.2a (affected), 17.9.3 (affected), 16.12.9 (affected), 17.11.1 (affected), 17.10.1b (affected), 17.6.6 (affected), 17.9.1x1 (affected), 17.11.1a (affected), 17.9.3a (affected), 17.12.1 (affected), 17.3.8 (affected), 17.9.4 (affected), 16.12.10 (affected), 17.12.1w (affected), 17.9.1y1 (affected), 17.12.1a (affected), 17.9.5 (affected), 17.13.1 (affected), 17.12.1x (affected), 17.12.2 (affected), 17.14.1 (affected), 17.9.4a (affected), 17.3.8a (affected), 17.6.6a (affected), 17.6.5a (affected), 17.6.7 (affected), 16.12.10a (affected), 17.15.1 (affected), 17.13.1a (affected), 17.12.2a (affected), 16.12.11 (affected), 17.12.3 (affected), 17.12.1y (affected), 17.12.1z (affected), 17.9.5a (affected), 17.14.1a (affected), 17.9.5b (affected), 17.6.8 (affected), 16.12.12 (affected), 17.12.4 (affected), 17.9.6 (affected), 17.17.1 (affected), 17.16.1 (affected), 17.15.1w (affected), 17.12.3a (affected), 17.9.5c (affected), 17.15.1a (affected), 17.12.1z1 (affected), 17.15.2 (affected), 17.15.1b (affected), 17.9.5d (affected), 17.15.1x (affected), 17.9.6a (affected), 17.12.1z2 (affected), 17.6.8a (affected), 17.16.1a (affected), 16.12.13 (affected), 17.15.3 (affected), 17.9.7 (affected), 17.12.5 (affected), 17.15.1y (affected), 17.9.5e (affected), 17.12.4a (affected), 17.15.2a (affected), 17.15.2c (affected), 17.15.2b (affected), 17.12.1z3 (affected), 17.9.5f (affected), 17.12.4b (affected), 17.12.5a (affected), 17.18.1 (affected), 17.12.6 (affected), 17.12.1z4 (affected), 17.9.8 (affected), 17.9.7a (affected), 17.15.3a (affected), 17.15.4 (affected), 17.12.5b (affected), 17.15.3b (affected), 16.12.14 (affected), 17.18.1z (affected), 17.9.7b (affected), 17.12.5c (affected), 26.1.1 (affected), 17.18.1a (affected), 17.15.4a (affected), 17.18.2 (affected), 17.18.1w (affected), 17.15.4b (affected), 17.12.6a (affected), 17.12.7 (affected), 17.15.4c (affected), 17.9.9 (affected), 17.12.5d (affected), 16.12.15 (affected), 17.15.4s1 (affected), 17.15.5 (affected), 17.12.1z5 (affected), 17.18.1x (affected), 17.12.1z6 (affected), 17.15.4d (affected), 17.12.6b (affected), 17.4.1c (affected), 17.15.5a (affected), 17.18.1y (affected), 17.12.7a (affected), 17.18.3 (affected), 17.12.7b (affected), 17.18.3a (affected), 26.1.1a (affected), 17.15.7 (affected), 16.12.16 (affected) |
References & Technical Advisories
No reference links found.
Threat Intelligence Signals
EPSS Score
0.343%
GitHub Advisory
Identity & Timeline
| Status | PUBLISHED |
| Assigning Authority | Cisco Systems, Inc. · Hosted Service · USA |
| Reserved | 2025-10-08T11:59:15 |
| Published | 2026-08-05T16:19:26 |
| Last Updated | 2026-08-14T21:00:51 |
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