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NVD / CVE Program· CNA cisco

CVE-2026-20045: Cisco Unified Communications Products Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Noroxi assessment

Priority: This week (action score 70/100)

  • CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (Jan 21, 2026). Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Feb 11, 2026.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 4.5% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 91.5% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
  • According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window. Until a fix is released, restrict access to the affected component and follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · CISA KEV · FIRST EPSS

A vulnerability in Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM), Cisco Unified Communications Manager Session Management Edition (Unified CM SME), Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM & Presence Service (Unified CM IM&P), Cisco Unity Connection, and Cisco Webex Calling Dedicated Instance could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system of an affected device.  This vulnerability is due to improper validation of user-supplied input in HTTP requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a sequence of crafted HTTP requests to the web-based management interface of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain user-level access to the underlying operating system and then elevate privileges to root.  Note: Cisco has assigned this security advisory a Security Impact Rating (SIR) of Critical rather than High as the score indicates. The reason is that exploitation of this vulnerability could result in an attacker elevating privileges to root.

CriticalCVSS 9.8 · v3.1KEVWeaponized No fix recorded
Published
Jan 21, 2026
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
4.5% · 91th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

70

This week

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window.

CVSS
39 / 40 · 9.8 / 10
CISA KEV
30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS
1 / 30 · 4.5%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
active
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
9.8
CNA · cisco
8.2
1.6 point gap

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

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Actively exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on Jan 21, 2026. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Feb 11, 2026.

Get told when this record changes

  • In CISA KEV: exploitation in the wild confirmed
  • Weaponized exploit exists
  • No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2026-20045

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits instantly.

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Is your version affected? Check it

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
ciscounified communications manager
ciscounified communications manager im and presence service
ciscounity connection

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • cisco unified communications manager12.5 and later · before 14su5
  • cisco unified communications manager15.0 and later · up to 15su3a inclusive
  • cisco unified communications manager im and presence service12.5 and later · before 14su5
  • cisco unified communications manager im and presence service15.0 and later · up to 15su3a inclusive
  • cisco unity connection12.5 and later · before 14su5
  • cisco unity connection15.0 and later · up to 15su3 inclusive

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (cisco). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Cisco Cisco Unified Communications Manager

    • 12.5(1)SU2, 12.5(1)SU1, 12.5(1), 12.5(1)SU3, 12.5(1)SU4, 14, 12.5(1)SU5, 14SU1, 12.5(1)SU6, 14SU2, 12.5(1)SU7, 12.5(1)SU7a … (+19)affected

  • Cisco Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service

    • 12.5(1), 12.5(1)SU1, 12.5(1)SU2, 12.5(1)SU3, 12.5(1)SU4, 14, 12.5(1)SU5, 14SU1, 12.5(1)SU6, 14SU2, 14SU2a, 12.5(1)SU7 … (+8)affected

  • Cisco Cisco Unity Connection

    • 12.5(1), 12.5(1)SU1, 12.5(1)SU2, 12.5(1)SU3, 12.5(1)SU4, 14, 12.5(1)SU5, 14SU1, 12.5(1)SU6, 14SU2, 12.5(1)SU7, 14SU3 … (+9)affected

Same product

cisco: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2026-20230Cisco Unified Communications Manager Server-Side Request Forgery VulnerabilityKEV
    90Now
  • CVE-2024-20253A vulnerability in multiple Cisco Unified Communications and Contact Center Solutions products could allow an unauthenticated, remote attack
    41Plan
  • CVE-2011-1643Cisco Unified Communications Manager (aka CUCM, formerly CallManager) 6.x, 7.x before 7.1(5b)su4, 8.0, and 8.5 before 8.5(1)su2 and Cisco Un
    41Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2020-3420Nov 18, 2024 · Cisco Unified Communications Manager Stored Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability
    21Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2025-20309Jul 2, 2025 · Cisco Unified Communications Manager Static SSH Credentials Vulnerability
    40Plan
  • ← EarlierCVE-2025-20326Sep 3, 2025 · Cisco Unified Communications Manager Cross-Site Request Forgery Vulnerability
    35Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

Evidence

  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×1

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:62026-01-25

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. CISA KEV-1 d
  2. Published
  3. First PoC+3 d
  4. TodayOct 27, 2026+279 d
EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-94 · Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

Show all references (1 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records