CVE-2026-20045 Cisco Unified Communications Products Code Injection
Unauthenticated remote attackers can execute arbitrary commands and escalate privileges to root via crafted HTTP requests to the web interface.
- Exploited in the wild
- Since 21 Jan 2026
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-20045?
CVE-2026-20045 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in Cisco Unified Communications Manager, published on 21 Jan 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A vulnerability in Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM), Cisco Unified Communications Manager Session Management Edition (Unified CM SME), Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM & Presence Service (Unified CM IM&P), Cisco Unity Connection, and Cisco Webex Calling Dedicated Instance could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system of an affected device. This vulnerability is due to improper validation of user-supplied input in HTTP requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a sequence of crafted HTTP requests to the web-based management interface of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain user-level access to the underlying operating system and then elevate privileges to root. Note: Cisco has assigned this security advisory a Security Impact Rating (SIR) of Critical rather than High as the score indicates. The reason is that exploitation of this vulnerability could result in an attacker elevating privileges to root.
Weakness: CWE-94
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-20045?
It affects 3 products.
Products include Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Cisco Unified Communications Manager Im and Presence Service, Cisco Unity Connection.
How do I fix CVE-2026-20045?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-20045 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available. US federal agencies must fix it by 11 Feb 2026.
Upgrade, and pass arguments to programs as a list instead of through a shell. More about Command injection.
Is CVE-2026-20045 being exploited?
Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2026-20045 in the wild since at least 21 Jan 2026.
Public exploit code: 1 proofs of concept on GitHub.
Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Unified Communications Manager
- CVE-2026-20230 Cisco Unified Communications Manager Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
- CVE-2025-20309 Cisco Unified Communications Manager Static SSH Credentials Vulnerability
- CVE-2011-1643 Information disclosure in n/a
- CVE-2024-20253 Deserialization in Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise
- CVE-2009-0632 Information disclosure in n/a
Sources
Also known as GHSA-h4w3-hxw6-99q7.