CVE-2026-20045Cisco Unified Communications Products Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- 8.2HighCVSS base score
- 4.5%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 8.3% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 21 Jan 2026
- YesPublic exploitsa reference or SSVC says so
Description
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.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Cisco Unified Communications Products Code Injection Vulnerability.
- Added
- 21 Jan 2026
- Fix due (US federal)
- 11 Feb 2026
- Used by ransomware
- Not known
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 21 Jan 2026.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Timeline
ID reserved
By cisco
- 4 months later
· 4 months later
Published
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited in the wild
- 36 days later
· 36 days later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| ciscoCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High8.2 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 4.5% · top 8.3% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.2.
Affected products
Cisco · Cisco Unified Communications Manager
- affected 12.5(1)SU2
- affected 12.5(1)SU1
- affected 12.5(1)
- affected 12.5(1)SU3
- affected 12.5(1)SU4
- affected 14
- affected 12.5(1)SU5
- affected 14SU1
- affected 12.5(1)SU6
- affected 14SU2
- affected 12.5(1)SU7
- affected 12.5(1)SU7a
- affected 14SU3
- affected 12.5(1)SU8
- affected 12.5(1)SU8a
- affected 15
- affected 15SU1
- affected 14SU4
- affected 14SU4a
- affected 15SU1a
- affected 12.5(1)SU9
- affected 15SU2
- affected 15.0.1.13010-1
- affected 15.0.1.13011-1
- affected 15.0.1.13012-1
- affected 15.0.1.13013-1
- affected 15.0.1.13014-1
- affected 15.0.1.13015-1
- affected 15.0.1.13016-1
- affected 15.0.1.13017-1
- affected 15SU3a
Cisco · Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service
- affected 12.5(1)
- affected 12.5(1)SU1
- affected 12.5(1)SU2
- affected 12.5(1)SU3
- affected 12.5(1)SU4
- affected 14
- affected 12.5(1)SU5
- affected 14SU1
- affected 12.5(1)SU6
- affected 14SU2
- affected 14SU2a
- affected 12.5(1)SU7
- affected 14SU3
- affected 12.5(1)SU8
- affected 15
- affected 15SU1
- affected 14SU4
- affected 12.5(1)SU9
- affected 15SU2
- affected 15SU3
Cisco · Cisco Unity Connection
- affected 12.5(1)
- affected 12.5(1)SU1
- affected 12.5(1)SU2
- affected 12.5(1)SU3
- affected 12.5(1)SU4
- affected 14
- affected 12.5(1)SU5
- affected 14SU1
- affected 12.5(1)SU6
- affected 14SU2
- affected 12.5(1)SU7
- affected 14SU3
- affected 12.5(1)SU8
- affected 14SU3a
- affected 12.5(1)SU8a
- affected 15
- affected 15SU1
- affected 14SU4
- affected 12.5(1)SU9
- affected 15SU2
- affected 15SU3
What to do
Exploitation: The Cisco PSIRT is aware of attempted exploitation of this vulnerability in the wild. Cisco strongly recommends that customers upgrade to a fixed software release to remediate this vulnerability.
References
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-3600 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-20045)Record last updated .