CVE-2026-20179 (CVSS 5.8)

Description

Multiple Cisco products are affected by a vulnerability in the Snort 3 Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) Detection Engine that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the Snort 3 Detection Engine to restart, resulting in an interruption of packet inspection. This vulnerability is due to incomplete error checking when Snort 3 parses GRE packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted GRE packet to a targeted device to be parsed by Snort. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the Snort 3 Detection Engine to restart unexpectedly, resulting in a DoS condition.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

5.8

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:L

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0050

Probability of exploitation

0.42%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-128 CWE-128

References

Other References

https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-snort3-misc-dos-6mB22qAK

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-20179? +

Multiple Cisco products are affected by a vulnerability in the Snort 3 Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) Detection Engine that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the Snort 3 Detection Engine to restart, resulting in an interruption of packet inspection. This vulnerability is due to incomplete error checking when Snort 3 parses GRE packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted GRE packet to a targeted device to be parsed by Snort. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the Snort 3 Detection Engine to restart unexpectedly, resulting in a DoS condition. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.8 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2026-20179? +

CVE-2026-20179 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.8 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance. The EPSS score is 0.0050, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-20179? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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CVE-2026-20179