VulnerabilityPublished 25 Feb 2026

CVE-2026-20107: Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) · Insufficient Granularity of Access Control

Affects Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC)Source CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.

Data as of 29 Oct 2026, 19:04 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

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

EPSS: 0.09% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 0% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
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: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 25 Feb 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 29 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 Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC)	Affected 6.1(1f) – 6.1(3g) 5 affected builds	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2026-20107, organizations should: 1) Apply Cisco-provided patches or updates as soon as they become available for the affected APIC versions. 2) Restrict CLI access strictly to trusted administrators and enforce the principle of least privilege, ensuring only necessary roles have CLI permissions. 3) Implement strong authentication mechanisms, including multi-factor authentication (MFA), to reduce the risk of credential compromise. 4) Monitor and audit CLI access logs for unusual or unauthorized command usage to detect potential exploitation attempts early. 5) Employ network segmentation and access controls to limit local access to APIC devices, reducing the likelihood of unauthorized local attacks. 6) Regularly review and update user roles and permissions to ensure granularity aligns with operational needs, minimizing exposure. 7) Conduct security awareness training for administrators to recognize and prevent misuse of credentials or access. 8) Consider deploying intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) that can alert on anomalous CLI command patterns. These measures collectively reduce the risk of exploitation and limit the impact if an attack occurs.

Description

A vulnerability in the Object Model CLI component of Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) could allow an authenticated, local attacker to cause an affected device to reload unexpectedly, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid user credentials and any role that includes CLI access. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by issuing crafted commands at the CLI prompt. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-20107 is a denial of service condition caused by unexpected device reloads of Cisco APIC controllers. This can disrupt network policy enforcement, automation, and overall fabric management in data centers and enterprise networks relying on Cisco ACI (Application Centric Infrastructure). Organizations may experience temporary loss of network control, degraded performance, and operational downtime, potentially affecting business continuity. While the vulnerability does not expose sensitive data or allow unauthorized changes, the loss of availability in critical network infrastructure can have cascading effects on dependent applications and services. Attackers with valid credentials could intentionally disrupt network operations, leading to increased operational costs and potential reputational damage. The requirement for authenticated CLI access limits the attack surface to insiders or compromised accounts, but insider threats or credential theft scenarios increase risk. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, especially in environments with weak credential management or insufficient access controls.

References

sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-apic-dos-rNus8EFw (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 27 Feb 2026, 21:25 UTC

Technical details

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