CVE-2026-20323: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center and Secure Firewall Threat Defense Software sftunnel Unauthorized Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
Noroxi assessment
Priority: Monitor (action score 33/100)
- The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
- Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.12% (FIRST EPSS).
- Someone on the same network segment can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
- According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.
- Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).
Low priority for now. Update when a fix is released; 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 · FIRST EPSS
A vulnerability in the sftunnel inter-device communication protocol of Cisco Secure FMC Software and Cisco Secure FTD Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to impersonate the peer device and obtain access at the level of the manager role, which is equivalent to root. This vulnerability is due to improper management of the TLS certificate for the sftunnel management connection. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by connecting to the sftunnel port using a crafted TLS certificate. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to become a registered sftunnel peer with root access. Note: The attack is successful only if the sftunnel connection is down or the attack can disrupt the sftunnel connection long enough to execute the attack.
- Published
- Sep 16, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 18, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.1% · 2th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-295
Report tools
Action score
33
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 33 / 40 · 8.3 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.1%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- total
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- —
- CNA · cisco
- 8.3
- NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Get told when this record changes
- Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
- No public exploit code on record
- No fixed version yet
If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.
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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.
We use this product, ask for helpAffected 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.
—
Check your site's encryption
This vulnerability is about certificate validation or weak cryptography. The free SSL checker tests your certificate, enabled TLS versions and weak ciphers.
Run the SSL checkVersions 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 Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)
- 7.0.0, 7.0.0.1, 7.0.1, 7.0.1.1, 7.0.2, 7.2.0, 7.0.2.1, 7.0.3, 7.2.0.1, 7.0.4, 7.2.1, 7.0.5 … (+28)affected
Cisco Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software
- 7.0.0, 7.0.0.1, 7.0.1, 7.0.1.1, 7.0.2, 7.2.0, 7.0.2.1, 7.0.3, 7.2.0.1, 7.0.4, 7.2.1, 7.0.5 … (+28)affected
Same product
cisco: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2026-20324Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center sftunnel Root Arbitrary Code Exectution Vulnerability39Monitor
- CVE-2026-20242Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Software Java Deserialization Remote Code Execution Vulnerability39Monitor
- CVE-2026-20341Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Software sftunnel Deserialization Root Command Execution Vulnerability36Monitor
Published before and after this one in the same product
- ← EarlierCVE-2026-76420Sep 16, 2026 · Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Software Impersonated sftunnel Connection Vulnerability36Monitor
- ← EarlierCVE-2026-20295Sep 16, 2026 · Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center and Secure Firewall Threat Defense Software sftunnel Memory Exhaustion Denial of Service Vulnerability34Monitor
- Later →CVE-2026-20340Sep 16, 2026 · Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Software Deserialization Arbitrary Root Command Execution Vulnerability35Monitor
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
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
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.
No dated events beyond publication.
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 researchersFinders, 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.
—
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
- CVE-2026-203240 days apartCisco Secure Firewall Management Center sftunnel Root Arbitrary Code Exectution Vulnerability39Monitor
- CVE-2026-203410 days apartCisco Secure Firewall Management Center Software sftunnel Deserialization Root Command Execution Vulnerability36Monitor
- CVE-2026-203400 days apartCisco Secure Firewall Management Center Software Deserialization Arbitrary Root Command Execution Vulnerability35Monitor
- CVE-2026-203440 days apartCisco Secure Firewall Management Center Software SQL Injection Vulnerability35Monitor
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)
Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.
- TR-26-1119 · Sep 17, 2026(Cisco Çoklu Ürün Güvenlik Bildirimi)
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Someone on the same network segment can trigger it.
- No account or password is required.
- No user action is required.
- Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- high · data can be read
- Integrity
- high · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
Impact can extend beyond the vulnerable component (scope changes).
- Attack vector
- Adjacent
- Attack complexity
- High
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-295 · Improper Certificate ValidationCVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
nvd-secondary
Root cause
A certificate validation error is silently swallowed instead of terminating the connection. Often, code added for a test environment makes its way into production.
The bug in code
The whole CWE-295 classA representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.
Vulnerable
override fun checkServerTrusted(chain: Array<X509Certificate>, type: String) {
// Left empty for the test environment
}Fixed
val client = OkHttpClient.Builder()
.certificatePinner(
CertificatePinner.Builder()
.add("api.sirius.example", "sha256/…")
.build()
).build()Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Attack patterns (CAPEC)
ATT&CK techniques
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Change log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.