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CVE-2026-20357 – Missing Authentication / Unauthorized Access to Critical Function – Cisco Crosswork

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Summary

CVE-2026-20357 is a critical missing-authentication vulnerability (CWE-306: Missing Authentication for Critical Function) affecting Cisco Crosswork Planning. The flaw was identified through Cisco’s internal security review and could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to access essential system functions without providing credentials. Cisco has rated the issue Critical with a maximum CVSS v3.1 base score of 10.0.

Technical details

  • Root cause: A critical function within Crosswork Planning does not enforce authentication, allowing requests to reach sensitive functionality without valid credentials (CWE-306).
  • Trigger conditions: No user interaction or privileges are required to exploit the issue; the affected function is reachable directly over the network.
  • Attack vector: Network (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N). The scope is changed (S:C), indicating the vulnerability can impact resources beyond the vulnerable component itself.
  • Impact: Successful exploitation results in complete loss of confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H) of the affected system.
  • Discovery: Identified by Cisco during internal security testing; Cisco states there is no evidence of public exploit code or active exploitation in the wild as of the advisory’s publication.
  • Related issues: CVE-2026-20357 was disclosed alongside three other critical Crosswork vulnerabilities (CVE-2026-20030 – SQL injection, CVE-2026-20358 – external control of file name/path, CVE-2026-20359 – insufficiently protected credentials) in the same Cisco security hardening advisory covering the Crosswork product family.

Affected software

  • Cisco Crosswork Planning versions 7.0.0, 7.0.1, 7.0.2, 7.0.3, 7.0.4
  • Cisco Crosswork Planning versions 7.1.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2
  • Cisco Crosswork Planning version 7.2.0
  • Note: The associated Cisco advisory also lists Crosswork Data Gateway and Crosswork Network Controller as affected by related CVEs disclosed in the same bulletin (Crosswork release 7.2.1 and earlier).

Severity

  • CVSS v3.1 Base Score: 10.0 (Critical)
  • Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Mitigation and recommended actions

  • Immediate: Upgrade Cisco Crosswork Planning (and any affected Crosswork Data Gateway / Crosswork Network Controller deployments) to release 7.2.1-SP or later, which is the first fixed release addressing this vulnerability.
  • If patching cannot be performed immediately: Cisco states there are no workarounds available for this vulnerability; restrict network access to the Crosswork Planning management interfaces to trusted, internal administrative networks only, and monitor for unexpected or unauthenticated access attempts until the patch can be applied.
  • Review Cisco’s advisory for the complete list of related CVEs (CVE-2026-20030, CVE-2026-20358, CVE-2026-20359) disclosed in the same hardening release, as affected environments may need to remediate multiple issues in the same upgrade cycle.

References

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