CVE-2026-20274: Improper Control of a Resource Through its Lifetime in Cisco Cisco IOS XR Software
Description
As part of Cisco's ongoing commitment to proactive security and product quality, the Cisco IOS XR Software engineering team has conducted a comprehensive internal security review. This review resulted in a software hardening releases that address multiple internally discovered vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities tracked by CVE-2026-20274 are related to improper resource control issues that are grouped under the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) CWE-664.
CVSS v3.1
Score 9.8critical
Affected software
Cisco
Cisco IOS XR Software
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
Cisco IOS XR Software contains a vulnerability identified as CVE-2026-20274, which involves improper control of a resource through its lifetime, classified under CWE-664. This vulnerability was discovered during an internal security review by Cisco's engineering team, leading to software hardening releases addressing multiple vulnerabilities. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 9.8, reflecting network attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction, and high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The affected versions include a broad range of specific releases from 6.5.25 through 26.2.101, as explicitly listed.
Potential Impact
The vulnerability allows an attacker to potentially cause significant impact on the affected Cisco IOS XR Software devices, including full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Given the CVSS score of 9.8, exploitation could lead to critical system disruption or unauthorized control without requiring privileges or user interaction.
Mitigation Recommendations
Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. Cisco has indicated that software hardening releases address multiple vulnerabilities including this one, so applying the latest official updates from Cisco IOS XR Software is recommended once available.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- cisco
- Date Reserved
- 2025-10-08T11:59:15.403Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6a9850dcacd9273b4977c511
Added to database: 09/02/2026, 16:37:48 UTC
Last enriched: 09/22/2026, 03:18:50 UTC
Last updated: 10/17/2026, 06:48:16 UTC
Views: 98
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