CISA flags Cisco SD-WAN, LiteSpeed cPanel exploits
CISA added two actively exploited vulnerabilities—CVE-2026-20262 in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager and CVE-2026-54420 in LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin—to its KEV catalog.
Sourcecisa.gov — open the original
What to check
- Applies to
- The 2 CVEs named below. Whether you run an affected version is not assessed: check the versions the source lists.
- Exploitation
- CISA lists CVE-2026-20262 and CVE-2026-54420 as exploited in the wild.
CISA has added two vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog based on evidence of active exploitation in the wild. CVE-2026-20262 is a directory or path traversal vulnerability in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, while CVE-2026-54420 is a UNIX symbolic link following vulnerability in the LiteSpeed cPanel Plugin. Both flaws are being leveraged as attack vectors by malicious cyber actors.
The additions reinforce CISA's Binding Operational Directive 26-04, which requires Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies to prioritize rapid remediation of high-risk vulnerabilities—specifically those in the KEV catalog on publicly exposed assets that grant total control post-exploitation. The directive updates BOD 22-01 and establishes expectations for agencies to assess whether systems were compromised before patches were applied.
While BOD 26-04 applies only to federal agencies, CISA encourages all organizations to adopt risk-based vulnerability management and prioritize remediation of KEV catalog entries. Organizations can submit newly discovered exploited vulnerabilities for potential inclusion via CISA's KEV Nomination Form.
Mentioned in this report
Detection guidance
Possible Path Traversal Attempt Against Cisco SD-WAN Manager Web Interface
A behavioural hunt for the technique in general, not a signature for the CVEs this report names.
Detects HTTP requests containing directory traversal sequences targeting Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager management endpoints, consistent with exploitation of CVE-2026-20262. Auto-generated starting point — validate and tune in your environment before deploying. IOC matches can false-positive on shared infrastructure and decay as adversary infrastructure rotates.
title: Possible Path Traversal Attempt Against Cisco SD-WAN Manager Web Interface
id: 55a07eaa-196f-5a54-bb43-abcc3f694653
status: experimental
description: Detects HTTP requests with directory traversal patterns (../ or encoded
equivalents) sent to Cisco SD-WAN Manager web management URIs, which may indicate
exploitation of CVE-2026-20262.
references:
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
logsource:
category: proxy
product: null
detection:
selection:
c-uri|contains:
- ../
- ..%2f
- ..%5c
- '%2e%2e%2f'
- '%2e%2e/'
filter:
c-uri|contains:
- /static/
- /assets/
condition: selection and not filter
falsepositives:
- Legitimate vulnerability scanning or penetration testing against the management
interface
- Misconfigured proxies or CDNs rewriting URLs with encoded dot-dot sequences
level: medium
tags:
- attack.initial-access
- attack.t1190
author: Vorant
Suspicious Symlink Creation by cPanel or LiteSpeed Web Server Process
A behavioural hunt for the technique in general, not a signature for the CVEs this report names.
Detects a web server or cPanel-related process creating symbolic links, which may indicate exploitation of the LiteSpeed cPanel plugin symlink-following vulnerability (CVE-2026-54420) to escalate privileges or read/write outside intended directories. Auto-generated starting point — validate and tune in your environment before deploying. IOC matches can false-positive on shared infrastructure and decay as adversary infrastructure rotates.
title: Suspicious Symlink Creation by cPanel or LiteSpeed Web Server Process
id: 398b1d01-4181-56c6-b84e-0b4cd568de75
status: experimental
description: Detects the ln command with symlink flags being executed by processes
associated with cPanel or LiteSpeed web server services, consistent with exploitation
attempts of CVE-2026-54420 (UNIX symlink following vulnerability in LiteSpeed cPanel
Plugin).
references:
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: linux
detection:
selection:
Image|endswith: /ln
CommandLine|contains:
- '-s '
- --symbolic
parent_selection:
ParentImage|contains:
- litespeed
- lscpd
- cpanel
- cpsrvd
condition: selection and parent_selection
falsepositives:
- Legitimate cPanel or LiteSpeed maintenance scripts that create symlinks as part
of normal configuration
- Administrator-run automation scripts invoked under the web server service account
level: high
tags:
- attack.privilege-escalation
- attack.defense-impairment
- attack.t1222.002
author: Vorant
Behavioural rules are generated from public reporting — validate in your environment before deploying.
Source reporting: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2026/06/15/cisa-adds-two-known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
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