High-severity authentication bypass in a widely used Cisco enterprise on‑prem license manager with vendor-released hardening updates; impacts enterprise security and operations.
CVE-2026-76480
Authentication bypass in Cisco License On-Prem enabling unauthorized admin access
Is CVE-2026-76480 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-76480 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 0.33% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How severe is CVE-2026-76480?
CVE-2026-76480 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.8. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-76480?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2026-76480. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2026-76480 affect?
CVE-2026-76480 affects Cisco License On-Prem (formerly Smart Software Manager On-Prem), Cisco SSM On-Prem. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-76480?
Apply Cisco hardening updates immediately; restrict access and rotate affected credentials
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
Remote authentication bypass allows attackers to gain administrative access, modify configurations, access license data, and pivot laterally.
Immediate action required
- affected7-202001
- affected1.1
- affected6.3.0
- affected8-202004
- affected8-202006
- affected1.2
- affected1.3
- affected8-202012
- affected8-202010
- affected8-202008
- affected9-202201
- affected8-202102
- affected1.4
- affected8-202105
- affected8-202108
- affected8-202112
- affected8-202201
- affected8-202206
- affected8-202212
- affected8-202302
- affected8-202303
- affected8-202304
- affected8-202308
- affected8-202401
- affected8-202404
- affected9-202406
- affected9-202407
- affected9-202410
- affected9-202412
- affected9-202501
- affected9-202502
- affected9-202504
- affected9-202507
- affected9-202510
- affected9-202601
- affected10-202606
- affected10-202608
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.