A vulnerability in Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem (SSM On-Prem) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system with root-level privileges. The issue is caused by the unintended exposure of an internal service that can be accessed via a crafted API request. Cisco rates this vulnerability as Critical with a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8 and states there are no workarounds.
Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem is designed for organizations that manage Cisco software licenses locally without allowing direct communication to Cisco over the internet. As a result, it is typically deployed inside trusted management networks.
CVE-2026-20160 is an unauthenticated remote command execution vulnerability. The root cause is the unintended exposure of an internal service. An attacker can send a crafted request to the exposed API endpoint and execute commands as root on the underlying host.
Successful exploitation grants full control of the SSM On-Prem appliance. Because the system manages licensing and deployment metadata and operates within a trusted network segment, compromise provides a high-privilege foothold that can be used for lateral movement, persistence, and access to sensitive operational data.
Cisco has confirmed:
The NodeZero Rapid Response test for CVE-2026-20160 validates whether Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem is exploitable in your environment. The test safely exercises the exposed service to determine if unauthenticated command execution is possible.
Rapid Response tests are developed by Horizon3.ai’s research team through reverse engineering and safe exploit development to validate real-world risk.
Cisco states that upgrading to the fixed release is the only remediation.
The NodeZero® platform empowers your organization to reduce your security risks by autonomously finding exploitable weaknesses in your network, giving you detailed guidance around how to priortize and fix them, and having you immediately verify that your fixes are effective.