CVE-2026-20095
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 · uneditedA vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco IMC could allow an authenticated, remote attacker with admin-level privileges to perform command injection attacks on an affected system and execute arbitrary commands as the root user. This vulnerability is due to improper validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted commands to the web-based management interface of the affected software. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system as the root user. Cisco has assigned this vulnerability a Security Impact Rating (SIR) of High, rather than Medium as the score indicates, because additional security implications could occur once the attacker has become root.
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 confidenceThis is a command injection vulnerability in Cisco IMC (Integrated Management Controller) web-based management interface. An authenticated attacker with admin-level privileges can inject arbitrary OS commands due to improper validation of user-supplied input, achieving root-level command execution on the underlying operating system.
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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Cisco IMC is runningAccess the host BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) and verify the IMC web interface is accessible at the standard HTTPS port (usually 443 or 8443). Alternatively, check if the IMC service is listening on expected ports via 'netstat -an | grep -E "(443|8443)"' on the host OS.Affected if The Cisco IMC web management interface is accessible and responsive
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Identify Cisco IMC versionLog into the IMC web interface and navigate to the 'About' or 'Admin' section to view the firmware/software version. Alternatively, use IPMI commands: 'ipmitool -I lanplus -H <bmc_ip> -U admin -P <pass> raw' or check via Cisco IMC CLI with 'show version'.Affected if The installed version matches or precedes the vulnerable versions listed in Cisco's advisory (compare against the CVE publication)
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Verify admin-level accounts existCheck the IMC user database via the web interface under 'User Management' or 'Admin > Users', or via CLI using 'ipmitool user list' or 'show user' in IMC CLI. The vulnerability requires an admin-privileged account.Affected if At least one user account with administrator privileges is configured and enabled
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Confirm web interface is enabledIn the IMC web interface, go to 'Settings' or 'Network' and verify that the web-based management interface is enabled. Also check firewall rules on the host to confirm inbound traffic to the IMC web ports is permitted.Affected if The IMC web interface is enabled and reachable over the network
A system is affected if it runs a vulnerable Cisco IMC version with the web-based management interface enabled and has at least one admin-level user account configured.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply the vendor patch from Cisco when available. Until then, restrict access to the IMC web management interface to trusted networks only and monitor for suspicious admin activity.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-20095 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-20095 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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