CVE-2026-20191
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 Cisco Catalyst Center could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to read arbitrary files from a restricted container. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to read arbitrary files from a restricted container of the affected device.
In the news
Third-party coverageSurfaced from public web coverage — external links open in a new tab.
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 path traversal vulnerability in Cisco Catalyst Center where insufficient input validation allows unauthenticated attackers to craft HTTP requests that read arbitrary files from restricted containers. The attacker exploits this by sending specially crafted requests with directory traversal sequences (e.g., ../../) to access files outside the intended web root.
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
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 Catalyst Center is deployedIdentify the installed product by checking system information, typically via 'show version' command on the appliance or checking the web interface header which displays 'Cisco Catalyst Center'Affected if The system is running Cisco Catalyst Center software
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Determine the installed versionLog into the Cisco Catalyst Center admin interface and navigate to System > About, or run 'show version' via CLI, then compare against Cisco's official advisory for CVE-2026-20191 to see if your version falls within affected releasesAffected if Your version matches the affected versions listed in the Cisco security advisory
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Verify web interface exposureCheck network configuration to determine if the Catalyst Center web portal (typically ports 443/HTTPS) is accessible from untrusted networks. Review firewall rules, NAT configurations, and ACLs controlling access to the management interfaceAffected if The web interface is reachable from outside the trusted network segment
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Inspect HTTP access logs for traversal patternsReview Catalyst Center logs for requests containing sequences like '../', '..%2F', or URL-encoded traversal patterns targeting sensitive paths such as /etc/passwd, Windows\system32\config, or other system filesAffected if Log analysis reveals directory traversal attempts in HTTP requests
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Check for unauthorized file access indicatorsExamine the Catalyst Center system for unexpected files in web-accessible directories, or review audit logs for access to system files from web application accounts that should not have such accessAffected if Evidence exists of files being accessed outside the intended web root directory
You are affected if you are running a version of Cisco Catalyst Center within the affected range AND the web interface is accessible to untrusted networks, regardless of whether exploitation attempts are observed in logs.
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 when available; in the interim, restrict HTTP access to affected systems via network segmentation and implement WAF rules to block traversal patterns in HTTP requests.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,168.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-20191 — 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-2026-20191 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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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.
- 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
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