CVE-2026-20242: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) · Deserialization of Untrusted Data
Affects Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC)Source CVE Database V5
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 9.8 Critical.
Data as of 31 Oct 2026, 20:20 UTC
- EPSS
- 0.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 59% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 16 Sep 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 31 Oct 2026.
What to do
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| CiscoCisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) | Affected
| Fixed in– |
AI-suggested
Mitigation includes restricting the external database access list to trusted hosts only and ensuring the FMC management interface is not exposed to the public internet to reduce attack surface.
Description
A vulnerability in the External Database Access feature of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insecure deserialization of a user-supplied Java byte stream from a host that is configured in the external database access list. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted, serialized Java byte stream to a specific TCP port of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the device and elevate privileges to root. Notes: This vulnerability can be exploited only by an attacker who has control of a host in the external database access list. If the FMC management interface does not have public internet access, the attack surface that is associated with this vulnerability is reduced.