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Uncontrolled Resource ConsumptionWeakness · CWE-400

CVE-2026-20080

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A vulnerability in the SSH service of Cisco IEC6400 Wireless Backhaul Edge Compute Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the SSH service to stop responding. This vulnerability exists because the SSH service lacks effective flood protection. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by initiating a denial of service (DoS) attack against the SSH port. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the SSH service to be unresponsive during the period of the DoS attack. All other operations remain stable during the attack.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The Cisco IEC6400 Wireless Backhaul Edge Compute Software SSH service lacks effective flood protection mechanisms, allowing an unauthenticated remote attacker to overwhelm the SSH service with excessive connection requests or traffic. This results in the SSH service becoming unresponsive while other system operations remain stable, constituting a denial of service condition.

MitigationImplement SSH flood protection such as rate limiting, connection throttling, or connection limits to prevent service exhaustion. Consider applying firewall rules or an intrusion prevention system to filter malicious SSH traffic before it reaches the service.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Low

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Cisco IEC6400 software is running
    Identify the system model and software version using CLI commands such as 'show version' or by checking the system information banner at login. Look for references to IEC6400 Wireless Backhaul Edge Compute Software.
    Affected if The system is confirmed to be a Cisco IEC6400 Wireless Backhaul Edge Compute device running SSH service.
  2. Verify SSH service is enabled
    Check the SSH service status via the management interface or CLI command such as 'show ssh' or 'show ip ssh'. Confirm SSH is listening on port 22.
    Affected if SSH service is active and accessible on the device.
  3. Check for SSH rate limiting or flood protection configuration
    Examine the SSH service configuration for rate limiting, connection throttling, or connection limits. Use commands such as 'show running-config | include ssh' or review the SSH-specific configuration section. Look for parameters related to 'rate-limit', 'timeout', 'max-auth-retry', or connection limits.
    Affected if No rate limiting, connection throttling, or connection limits are configured for the SSH service.
  4. Inspect firewall or access control rules for SSH
    Review any firewall policies or access control lists (ACLs) that govern SSH traffic to the device. Check if there are rules limiting source connections or implementing connection tracking for SSH.
    Affected if No firewall rules or ACLs are in place to restrict or rate-limit incoming SSH connections.

A user is affected if they are running Cisco IEC6400 Wireless Backhaul Edge Compute Software with SSH service enabled and without SSH flood protection mechanisms (rate limiting, connection throttling, or firewall rules) configured.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement SSH flood protection such as rate limiting, connection throttling, or connection limits to prevent service exhaustion. Consider applying firewall rules or an intrusion prevention system to filter malicious SSH traffic before it reaches the service.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-20080 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data