Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Cisco SD-WAN vManage could let a logged-in remote user bypass authorization and do more than their assigned role allows. That can expose sensitive data, change SD-WAN configuration, or disrupt management availability. This is critical because vManage controls network behavior.
Executive priority
Treat as urgent for any organization using Cisco SD-WAN vManage. The issue can undermine network-management trust even without unauthenticated access, so remediation should be prioritized alongside access review and management-plane exposure reduction.
Technical view
CVE-2020-3374 is an authorization bypass in Cisco SD-WAN vManage web-based management interface. Insufficient authorization checks allow authenticated remote attackers using crafted HTTP requests to exceed configured permissions. CVSS 3.0 is 9.9 with network attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to Cisco SD-WAN vManage deployments where authenticated users can reach the web-based management interface. Risk is higher if low-privilege accounts exist broadly or the management interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation requires authentication but only low privileges, and successful abuse may affect sensitive information, system configuration, and availability.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports an authenticated authorization bypass in vManage’s web interface, mapped to CWE-285. The bundle does not provide affected version ranges, fixed versions, or public exploit evidence, so validation should rely on Cisco’s advisory and local asset records.
Mitigation direction
- Review Cisco’s advisory for affected releases and fixed software guidance.
- Prioritize updating vulnerable Cisco SD-WAN vManage systems per vendor instructions.
- Restrict vManage web management access to trusted administrative networks.
- Review low-privilege vManage accounts and remove unnecessary access.
- Monitor for unexpected configuration changes or management-interface anomalies.
Validation and detection
- Inventory all Cisco SD-WAN vManage instances and their software versions.
- Compare deployed versions against Cisco’s advisory guidance.
- Confirm the web management interface is not broadly reachable.
- Review user roles for least-privilege alignment.
- Check logs for unexpected configuration changes or unusual management requests.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-285: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2020-3374 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Critical
- CVSS
- 9.9 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H3.16Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
9.9CriticalVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20200729 Cisco SD-WAN vManage Software Authorization Bypass VulnerabilityCVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_CISCO
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Authorization
Improper Authorization represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.