CVE-2026-20018 Cisco Firepower Management Center Software and Firepower Threat Defense Path Traversal Vulnerability
Authenticated administrators can exploit path traversal in Cisco FMC and FTD to write arbitrary files as root, potentially leading to code execution.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-20018?
CVE-2026-20018 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC), published on 4 Mar 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A vulnerability in the sftunnel functionality of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker with administrative privileges to write arbitrary files as root on the underlying operating system. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of the directory path during file synchronization. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by crafting a directory path outside of the expected file location. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to create or replace any file on the underlying operating system.
Weakness: CWE-27
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-20018?
How do I fix CVE-2026-20018?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-20018 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2026-20018 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-20018 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-6jcc-w84h-p298.