CVE-2026-20218
Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense Snort 3 Visual Basic for Applications Buffer Overflow Denial of Service Vulnerability
Description
A vulnerability in the Snort 3 Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Decompression Engine of multiple Cisco products could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the Snort 3 Detection Engine to restart unexpectedly, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to improper range checking when Snort 3 decompresses VBA data, which is user controlled. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted VBA data to the Snort 3 Detection Engine of a targeted device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause an overflow of stack data, which could result in a DoS condition.
INFO
Published Date :
Oct. 21, 2026, 5:18 p.m.
Last Modified :
Oct. 21, 2026, 6:54 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
Yes !
Source :
[email protected]
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | MITRE-CVE | ||||
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | [email protected] |
Solution
- Update affected Cisco products to the latest available version.
- Apply vendor patches for Snort 3 VBA decompression engine.
- Monitor for unexpected Snort 3 Detection Engine restarts.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-20218.
| URL | Resource |
|---|---|
| https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-snort3-vba-bufdos-jAuFdvn9 |
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-20218 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-20218
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-20218 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-20218 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
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New CVE Received by [email protected]
Oct. 21, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Description A vulnerability in the Snort 3 Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Decompression Engine of multiple Cisco products could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the Snort 3 Detection Engine to restart unexpectedly, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to improper range checking when Snort 3 decompresses VBA data, which is user controlled. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted VBA data to the Snort 3 Detection Engine of a targeted device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause an overflow of stack data, which could result in a DoS condition. Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:L Added CWE CWE-121 Added Affected New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/20xxx/CVE-2026-20218.json">CVE-2026-20218</a> Added Reference https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-snort3-vba-bufdos-jAuFdvn9