CVE-2026-76462

Cisco Secure Client Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Published Oct 21, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 5.5 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed

Description

A vulnerability in the interprocess communication (IPC) channel of the Secure Firewall Posture module in Cisco Secure Client could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges on an affected device.

This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a series of crafted IPC messages to a local socket. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to perform limited file write operations on the filesystem with SYSTEM or root privileges.
Although this vulnerability affects the Secure Firewall Posture module in Cisco Secure Client on Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems, this vulnerability could be used to obtain full root privileges on macOS and Linux. For that reason Cisco has assigned this security advisory a Security Impact Rating (SIR) of High rather than Medium as the score indicates.

Affected Products

Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).

Vendor Product Default status Versions

Cisco

Cisco Secure Client

unknown

Version	Status	Constraints
`4.9.00086`	affected	—
`4.9.01095`	affected	—
`4.9.02028`	affected	—
`4.9.03047`	affected	—
`4.9.03049`	affected	—
`4.9.04043`	affected	—
`4.9.04053`	affected	—
`4.9.05042`	affected	—
`4.9.06037`	affected	—
`4.10.00093`	affected	—
`4.10.01075`	affected	—
`4.10.02086`	affected	—
`4.10.03104`	affected	—
`4.10.04065`	affected	—
`4.10.04071`	affected	—
`4.10.05085`	affected	—
`4.10.05095`	affected	—
`5.0.00238`	affected	—
`4.10.05111`	affected	—
`5.0.00529`	affected	—
`5.0.00556`	affected	—
`4.10.06079`	affected	—
`5.0.01242`	affected	—
`4.10.06090`	affected	—
`5.0.02075`	affected	—
`4.10.07061`	affected	—
`5.0.03072`	affected	—
`4.10.07062`	affected	—
`5.0.03076`	affected	—
`5.0.04032`	affected	—
`4.10.07073`	affected	—
`5.0.05040`	affected	—
`5.1.0.136`	affected	—
`5.1.1.42`	affected	—
`4.10.08025`	affected	—
`5.1.2.42`	affected	—
`4.10.08029`	affected	—
`5.1.3.62`	affected	—
`5.1.4.74`	affected	—
`5.1.5.65`	affected	—
`5.1.6.103`	affected	—
`5.1.7.80`	affected	—
`5.1.8.105`	affected	—
`5.1.8.122`	affected	—
`5.1.9.113`	affected	—
`5.1.10.233`	affected	—
`5.1.11.388`	affected	—
`5.1.12.146`	affected	—
`5.1.13.117`	affected	—
`5.1.13.177`	affected	—
`5.1.14.145`	affected	—
`5.1.15.287`	affected	—
`5.1.16.194`	affected	—
`5.1.17.3382`	affected	—
`5.1.17.3394`	affected	—
`5.1.18.314`	affected	—
`5.1.19.1862`	affected	—

No data.

Vendor Product Versions

Cisco

Secure Client

Version	Status	Scheme	Platform
`4.9.00086`	affected	semver	—
`4.9.01095`	affected	semver	—
`4.9.02028`	affected	semver	—
`4.9.03047`	affected	semver	—
`4.9.03049`	affected	semver	—
`4.9.04043`	affected	semver	—
`4.9.04053`	affected	semver	—
`4.9.05042`	affected	semver	—
`4.9.06037`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.00093`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.01075`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.02086`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.03104`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.04065`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.04071`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.05085`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.05095`	affected	semver	—
`5.0.00238`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.05111`	affected	semver	—
`5.0.00529`	affected	semver	—
`5.0.00556`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.06079`	affected	semver	—
`5.0.01242`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.06090`	affected	semver	—
`5.0.02075`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.07061`	affected	semver	—
`5.0.03072`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.07062`	affected	semver	—
`5.0.03076`	affected	semver	—
`5.0.04032`	affected	semver	—
`4.10.07073`	affected	semver	—
`5.0.05040`	affected	semver	—
`5.1.0.136`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.1.42`	affected	generic	—
`4.10.08025`	affected	semver	—
`5.1.2.42`	affected	generic	—
`4.10.08029`	affected	semver	—
`5.1.3.62`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.4.74`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.5.65`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.6.103`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.7.80`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.8.105`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.8.122`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.9.113`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.10.233`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.11.388`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.12.146`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.13.117`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.13.177`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.14.145`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.15.287`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.16.194`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.17.3382`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.17.3394`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.18.314`	affected	generic	—
`5.1.19.1862`	affected	generic	—

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

Advisories

No advisories available

Metrics

No CVSS v4.0

Attack Vector Local

Attack Complexity Low

Privileges Required Low

Scope Unchanged

Confidentiality Impact None

Integrity Impact High

Availability Impact None

User Interaction None

No CVSS v3.0

No CVSS v2

This CVE is not in the KEV list.

Exploit prediction score: < 1% (0.144% probability within 30 days)

Exploitation none

Automatable no

Technical Impact total

References

Link	Providers
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sec-client-priv-esc-muF8eZdm

History

Oct 23, 2026 12:45 AM Scoring metrics updated View changes

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
Metrics		ssvc `{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}`

Oct 22, 2026 11:00 AM First appearance in the feed. Affected vendors updated View changes

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
First Time appeared		Cisco Cisco secure Client
Vendors & Products		Cisco Cisco secure Client

Oct 21, 2026 5:15 PM Description updated. Title updated. Weaknesses updated. Added references. Scoring metrics updated View changes

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
Description		A vulnerability in the interprocess communication (IPC) channel of the Secure Firewall Posture module in Cisco Secure Client could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a series of crafted IPC messages to a local socket. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to perform limited file write operations on the filesystem with SYSTEM or root privileges. Although this vulnerability affects the Secure Firewall Posture module in Cisco Secure Client on Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems, this vulnerability could be used to obtain full root privileges on macOS and Linux. For that reason Cisco has assigned this security advisory a Security Impact Rating (SIR) of High rather than Medium as the score indicates.
Title		Cisco Secure Client Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Weaknesses		CWE-20
References		https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sec-client-priv-esc-muF8eZdm
Metrics		cvssV3_1 `{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N'}`