VulnerabilityPublished 4 Mar 2026

CVE-2026-20003: 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 4.9 Medium.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.9Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 22% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
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: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
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 – 7.7.10.1 60 affected builds	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Apply official patches or updates from Cisco as soon as they become available to address this vulnerability.
Restrict and monitor administrative access to Cisco FMC, ensuring only necessary personnel have roles such as Administrator, Security approver, Intrusion admin, Access admin, or Network admin.
Implement strong multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users with elevated privileges to reduce the risk of credential compromise.
Conduct regular audits of user accounts and roles within FMC to detect unauthorized privilege escalations or suspicious activity.
Employ network segmentation and firewall rules to limit access to the FMC REST API to trusted management networks only.
Monitor FMC logs and network traffic for unusual API requests or patterns indicative of attempted SQL injection or reconnaissance.
Consider deploying Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) or API gateways with SQL injection detection capabilities in front of the FMC REST API endpoints.
Educate administrators on secure credential handling and the risks of phishing or social engineering that could lead to credential theft.
If patching is delayed, consider temporarily disabling or restricting the vulnerable REST API functionality where feasible.
Stay informed via Cisco security advisories and threat intelligence feeds for updates or emerging exploit information.

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 Intrusion admin Access admin Network admin

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-20003 is unauthorized disclosure of sensitive data stored within the Cisco FMC database and potentially sensitive files on the underlying operating system. This can lead to exposure of firewall configurations, security policies, network topology, and possibly credentials or logs that could aid further attacks. Since FMC is a centralized management platform for Cisco firewalls, compromising its confidentiality can undermine the entire network security infrastructure, enabling attackers to plan more sophisticated intrusions or evade detection. The requirement for valid high-privilege credentials limits the attack surface but insider threats or compromised administrator accounts could be leveraged. The vulnerability does not directly affect system integrity or availability, but data leakage alone can have severe consequences for organizations, including regulatory compliance violations, reputational damage, and increased risk of subsequent attacks. Organizations relying heavily on Cisco FMC for network security management worldwide are at risk, especially those in sectors like government, finance, critical infrastructure, and large enterprises.

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, 20:05 UTC

Technical details

References

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