# CVE-2026-20273: Cisco IOS XE Software Security Hardening Release

> Cisco IOS XE received a security hardening release addressing multiple internally discovered input validation vulnerabilities identified during a comprehensive review.

- **Severity:** High 8.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 2 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-pc98-jj4f-x983

## What is CVE-2026-20273?

CVE-2026-20273 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 5 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

As part of Cisco's ongoing commitment to proactive security and product quality, the Cisco IOS XE Software engineering team has conducted a comprehensive internal security review. This review resulted in a software hardening release that addresses multiple internally discovered vulnerabilities.

The vulnerabilities tracked by CVE-2026-20273 are related to improper input validation issues that are grouped under the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) Pillar CWE-20.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-20273?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Ios Xe.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-20273?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-20273 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-20273 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-20273 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Ios Xe

- [CVE-2023-20198](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20198/): Cisco IOS XE Web UI Privilege Escalation (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-0151](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0151/): Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software Quality of Service Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2023-20273](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20273/): Cisco IOS XE Web UI Command Injection (high 7.2, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-20188](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20188/): Hardcoded credentials in Cisco IOS XE Software (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2021-34770](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-34770/): Cisco IOS XE Software for Catalyst 9000 Family Wireless Controllers CAPWAP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-20273 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-20273 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 5 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-20273 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Ios Xe. 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-2026-20273/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20273/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-20273
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-20273
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-20273

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20273/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.