CVE-2026-20040

HIGHPre-NVD 8.88.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 8.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-03-11. a secondary CVSS source baseline 8.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
8.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 8.8Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying operating system of an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user arguments that are passed to specific CLI commands. An attacker with a low-privileged account could exploit this vulnerability by using crafted commands at the prompt. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to elevate privileges to root and execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system.

CVSS v3
8.8
EG Score
8.8(medium)
EG Risk
44(Track)
EG Risk 44/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity88% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
7%
KEV
Not listed

Published

March 11, 2026

Last Modified

July 1, 2026

Advisory Details (1)

Auto-updated Jul 2, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic

Cisco IOS XR Software CLI Privilege Escalation Vulnerabilities

https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-iosxr-privesc-bF8D5U4W

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-20040(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 5× in last 7d / 53× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-08-27 14:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-26 14:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-08-23 00:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-08-21 23:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-20 22:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-08-19 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-08-18 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-08-17 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-08-16 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-08-16 11:53 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-08-16 11:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-08-16 02:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-08-15 01:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-08-14 20:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-08-14 07:50 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-08-14 07:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-08-13 22:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-08-12 23:02 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-08-12 23:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-08-12 13:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-08-11 21:51 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-08-11 21:51 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-08-11 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-08-11 04:59 UTCEG score recompute
Show 70 more
  1. 2026-08-11 04:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-08-11 00:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-10 07:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-08-09 19:24 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-08-09 19:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-08-09 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-08-09 07:32 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-08-09 07:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-08-08 16:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-08-08 06:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-08-07 18:18 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-08-07 18:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-08-06 19:54 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-08-06 19:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-08-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-08-06 02:03 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-08-06 02:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-08-05 19:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-08-04 15:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-08-04 10:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-08-04 01:21 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-08-04 01:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-08-03 10:35 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-08-02 17:37 UTCEG score recompute
  25. 2026-08-02 17:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
  26. 2026-08-02 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-08-01 04:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-07-30 01:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-07-27 14:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-07-26 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-07-26 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-07-25 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-07-25 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-07-24 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-07-23 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-07-23 14:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-07-23 03:06 UTCEG score recompute
  38. 2026-07-22 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-07-21 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-07-21 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-07-20 17:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-07-19 14:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  43. 2026-07-19 14:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  44. 2026-07-19 02:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-07-19 02:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-07-18 10:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-07-18 10:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  48. 2026-07-16 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-07-16 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  50. 2026-07-15 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-07-15 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  52. 2026-07-15 02:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  53. 2026-07-15 02:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  54. 2026-07-13 06:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  55. 2026-07-13 06:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-07-12 05:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  57. 2026-07-12 05:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  58. 2026-07-11 08:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  59. 2026-07-09 19:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  60. 2026-07-08 15:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  61. 2026-07-08 15:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  62. 2026-07-07 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  63. 2026-07-06 16:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  64. 2026-07-06 02:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  65. 2026-07-05 02:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  66. 2026-07-05 02:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  67. 2026-07-04 06:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  68. 2026-07-01 17:06 UTCEG score recompute
  69. 2026-07-01 17:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
  70. 2026-07-01 17:06 UTCNVD updatefirst tracked

Related CVEs(same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-20040?
CVE-2026-20040 is a high vulnerability published on March 11, 2026. A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying operating system of an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user arguments that are passed to specific CLI…
When was CVE-2026-20040 disclosed?
CVE-2026-20040 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on March 11, 2026, with the most recent update on July 1, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-20040 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-20040 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 93.3% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-20040?
CVE-2026-20040 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-20040?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-20040, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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