CVE-2022-20818 | Cisco SD-WAN Software Privilege Escalation Vulnerabilities

Multiple vulnerabilities in the CLI of Cisco SD-WAN Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to gain elevated privileges. These vulnerabilities are due to improper access controls on commands within the application CLI. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by running a malicious command on the application CLI. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as the root user.

Published: 2022-09-30 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-20818 is rated Moderate Risk (53.9/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.52%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-20818

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-21 1.14% 0.52% -0.62%
2 2026-03-11 0.84% 1.14% +0.31%
3 2026-03-09 0.84%

Full EPSS history (20 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-20818

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-20818

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-20818

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cisco sd-wan_vbond_orchestrator < 20.9 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:sd-wan_vbond_orchestrator:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco sd-wan_vmanage < 20.9 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:sd-wan_vmanage:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco sd-wan_vsmart_controller < 20.9 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:sd-wan_vsmart_controller:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco sd-wan < 20.9 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:sd-wan:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-20818

cvelogic Threat Intelligence