High severity · published Aug 1, 2026
CVE-2026-18556
Unauthenticated administrative account takeover
In wildKEV
7.4
CVSS
7.9%
EPSS
Yes
On KEV
Description
Authentication bypass using an alternate path or channel vulnerability in N-able N-central allows Authentication Bypass.
This issue affects N-central: through 2026.1.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)7.9% · higher than 95% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildYes
CISA KEVListed Aug 4, 2026
Federal remediation dueAug 7, 2026
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
NC
N-central · N-able
through 2026.1 · source: vendor, NVD, KEV
In the news
AdvisoryHigh
CISA Adds Three Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog
CISA has added three new vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog , based on evidence of active exploitation.
CVE-2026-9198 IBM Langflow Code Injection Vulnerability
CVE-2026-18556 N-able N-central Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel Vulnerability
CVE-2026-34486 Apache Tomcat Missing Encryption of Sensitive Data Vulnerability
These types of vulnerabilities are a frequent attack vector for malicious cyber actors and pose significant risks to the federal enterprise.
Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 26-04: Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk establishes vulnerability management requirements for Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies. BOD 26-04 reinforces the importance of the KEV Catalog and requires federal agencies to prioritize rapid remediation of high-risk vulnerabilities, specifically those identified by Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) listed in CISA’s KEV Catalog on publicly exposed assets that grant total control of the asset post-exploitation, while deferring action for lower-risk vulnerabilities. BOD 26-04 further establishes basic expectations for when agencies must check whether threat actors compromised the system before the patch was applied.
While BOD 26-04 applies only to FCEB agencies, CISA encourages all organizations to adopt risk-based vulnerability management and prioritize remediation of KEV Catalog vulnerabilities . CISA will continue to add ...
Aug 4, 2026·CISA Advisories
VulnerabilityHigh
CISA Adds Exploited N-able N-central Flaw to KEV After Customer Compromises
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Monday added a high-severity security flaw impacting N-able N-central to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog following reports of active exploitation in the wild.
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-18577 (CVSS score: 8.2), is a case of incomplete patching for CVE-2026-18556 (CVSS score: 8.2) that allows
Aug 4, 2026·The Hacker News
VulnerabilityHigh
[CISA KEV] CVE-2026-18556: N-able N-central - N-able N-central Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel Vulnerability
N-able N-central contains an authentication bypass using an alternate path or channel that allows for authentication bypass.
NCN-centralCVE-2026-18556
Aug 4, 2026·CISA KEV
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-18556
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-18556
CISA KEV catalogue
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
uptime.n-able.com
https://uptime.n-able.com/
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Incomplete patch leads to administrative account takeover
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The N-central Software Probe < 2025.4 is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution via deserialization
