# CVE-2022-20818: Cisco SD-WAN Software Privilege Escalation Vulnerabilities

> Authenticated local attackers can exploit improper CLI access controls to execute arbitrary commands as root, requiring immediate patching.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 30 Sep 2022
- **Updated:** 26 Feb 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8whp-gj34-8pwr

## What is CVE-2022-20818?

CVE-2022-20818 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco SD-WAN Solution, published on 30 Sep 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Multiple vulnerabilities in the CLI of Cisco SD-WAN Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to gain elevated privileges. These vulnerabilities are due to improper access controls on commands within the application CLI. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by running a malicious command on the application CLI. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as the root user.

Weakness: CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory), CWE-25 (Path Traversal: '/../filedir')

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-20818?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Cisco Sd-Wan, Cisco Sd-Wan Vbond Orchestrator, Cisco Sd-Wan Vmanage, Cisco Sd-Wan Vsmart Controller.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-20818?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-20818 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-20818 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2022-20818 exists.

Public exploit code:

- CVE-2022-20818: Local Privilege Escalation via Partial File Read in Cisco SD-WAN (github_poc): https://github.com/mbadanoiu/CVE-2022-20818

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco SD-WAN Solution

- [CVE-2020-3374](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3374/): Cisco SD-WAN vManage Software Authorization Bypass Vulnerability (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2018-15387](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15387/): Cisco SD-WAN Solution Certificate Validation Bypass Vulnerability (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-1624](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1624/): Cisco SD-WAN Solution Command Injection Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-1650](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1650/): Cisco SD-WAN Solution Arbitrary File Overwrite Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2020-3180](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3180/): Cisco SD-WAN Solution Software Static Credentials Vulnerability (high 8.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-20818 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-20818 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco SD-WAN Solution, published on 30 Sep 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2022-20818 exists.

Affected product: Cisco SD-WAN Solution. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20818/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20818/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-20818
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-20818
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-20818

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20818/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.