CVE-2026-20054
Received Received - Intake
Denial of Service in Cisco Snort 3 via VBA Decompression

Publication date: 2026-03-04

Last updated on: 2026-03-04

Assigner: Cisco Systems, Inc.

Description
Multiple Cisco products are affected by a vulnerability in the Snort 3 VBA feature that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the Snort 3 Detection Engine to crash.  This vulnerability is due to improper error checking when decompressing VBA data. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted VBA data to the Snort 3 Detection Engine on the targeted device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the Snort 3 Detection Engine to enter an infinite loop, causing a DoS condition.
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Meta Information
Published
2026-03-04
Last Modified
2026-03-04
Generated
2026-06-16
AI Q&A
2026-03-04
EPSS Evaluated
2026-06-15
NVD
CVE-2026-20054
EUVD
EUVD-2026-9460
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
cisco snort_3 *
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-835 The product contains an iteration or loop with an exit condition that cannot be reached, i.e., an infinite loop.
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Executive Summary

This vulnerability affects multiple Cisco products that use the Snort 3 VBA feature. It arises from improper error checking when decompressing VBA data. An unauthenticated, remote attacker can exploit this by sending specially crafted VBA data to the Snort 3 Detection Engine on the targeted device.

If successfully exploited, the Snort 3 Detection Engine could crash or enter an infinite loop, leading to a denial-of-service (DoS) condition.

Impact Analysis

The primary impact of this vulnerability is a denial-of-service (DoS) condition on devices running the Snort 3 Detection Engine. An attacker can cause the engine to crash or become unresponsive by sending crafted VBA data.

This could disrupt network security monitoring and intrusion detection capabilities, potentially leaving the network unprotected or blind to other attacks during the downtime.

Compliance Impact

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Detection Guidance

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