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Mallory
Critical

Cisco IMC Change Password Authentication Bypass

IdentifiersCVE-2026-20093CWE-20· Improper Input Validation

CVE-2026-20093 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in the change password functionality of Cisco Integrated Management Controller (IMC). The flaw is caused by incorrect handling of password change requests. An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit the issue by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected IMC interface, allowing the attacker to bypass authentication checks and modify the password of any existing account on the system, including the Admin account. After changing the target account's password, the attacker can log in as that user and obtain corresponding privileges. Cisco assigned CVSS v3.1 vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H and a base score of 9.8.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation allows full compromise of the affected IMC instance at the privilege level of the targeted account, including administrative compromise when the Admin password is changed. Because Cisco IMC is an out-of-band baseboard management controller, administrative access can provide hardware-level control over the host server beneath the operating system and hypervisor. This may enable power control, forced reboot or shutdown, modification of BIOS or firmware settings, potential interference with Secure Boot, mounting of malicious virtual media, booting alternate operating environments, and use of the management plane as a pivot point for lateral movement within dedicated management networks. The CVSS impact metrics indicate high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

Cisco stated that no workarounds or temporary mitigations are available for CVE-2026-20093. As exposure reduction measures, the IMC interface should not be publicly accessible and should be isolated on a dedicated management network with strong segmentation and restricted administrative access, but these measures do not replace patching.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply Cisco's fixed software releases for affected Cisco IMC deployments. Reported fixed versions in the provided content include: Cisco 5000 Series ENCS upgraded to NFVIS 4.15.5 or later; Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series Edge uCPE upgraded to NFVIS 4.18.3 or later, with older NFVIS branches migrated to a fixed release; Cisco UCS C-Series M5 and M6 Rack Servers in standalone mode upgraded to IMC versions 4.3(2.260007), 4.3(6.260017), or 6.0(1.250174) as applicable; Cisco UCS E-Series Servers M3 upgraded to 3.2.17; and Cisco UCS E-Series Servers M6 upgraded to 4.15.3. For standalone servers, Cisco Host Upgrade Utility (HUU) may be used where applicable. Cisco states that vendor-provided updates are the effective remediation.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
Cisco SystemsImcapplication
Cisco SystemsNfvisapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

48 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

What this page doesn’t show

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Exposure mapping

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Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity39

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.