VulnerabilityPublished 4 Mar 2026

CVE-2026-20001: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) · SQL Injection

Affects Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)Source CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 27% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 4 Mar 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 30 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
CiscoCisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)	Affected 7.0.0 – 7.7.0 56 affected builds	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Apply the latest security patches and updates from Cisco as soon as they become available for the affected FMC versions to remediate the vulnerability.
Enforce strict access controls and multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all accounts with Administrator, Security approver, Access admin, or Network admin roles to reduce the risk of credential compromise.
Monitor and audit REST API access logs for unusual or suspicious activity indicative of attempted SQL injection or unauthorized data access.
Implement network segmentation and firewall rules to restrict REST API access only to trusted management networks and authorized personnel.
Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on API endpoints to identify and remediate input validation weaknesses.
Use web application firewalls (WAFs) or API gateways with SQL injection detection and prevention capabilities to provide an additional layer of defense.
Educate administrators and security teams about the risks of SQL injection and the importance of credential security to prevent insider threats.
Consider temporary disabling or limiting REST API functionality if feasible until patches are applied, especially in high-risk environments.
Review and minimize the number of users assigned privileged roles to reduce the attack surface.
Maintain up-to-date backups and incident response plans to quickly recover from any potential compromise.

Description

A vulnerability in the REST API of Cisco Secure FMC Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to conduct SQL injection attacks on an affected system. This vulnerability is due to inadequate validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted requests to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain read access to the database and read certain files on the underlying operating system. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need valid user credentials with any of the following roles: Administrator Security approver Access admin Network admin

Impact

The primary impact of this vulnerability is unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information stored within the Cisco FMC database and certain operating system files. This can lead to exposure of firewall policies, network configurations, user credentials, and other critical security data, potentially aiding further attacks or lateral movement within an organization. Since FMC is widely deployed in enterprise and government networks to manage firewall policies and security posture, compromise could undermine network defenses and trust in security controls. Although the vulnerability does not allow modification or deletion of data (no integrity or availability impact), the confidentiality breach alone can have severe consequences including regulatory non-compliance, intellectual property theft, and increased risk of targeted attacks. Organizations relying on Cisco FMC for perimeter and internal network security management are at risk, especially if attackers gain access to privileged accounts. The requirement for valid credentials limits exploitation to insiders or attackers who have already compromised user accounts, but the ease of remote exploitation via the REST API increases the attack surface. The absence of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, as attackers may develop exploits in the future.

References

sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-fmc-sql-injection-2qH6CcJd (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 11 Mar 2026, 19:46 UTC

Technical details

References

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