ASSESSMENT: CVE-2026-20128 represents a privilege escalation vector in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager wherein inadequately protected credential files permit authenticated local users to extract DCA user credentials in recoverable format. An attacker with low-privileged filesystem access can access the credential file directly, enabling lateral movement to DCA-level privileges without requiring additional exploitation. This vulnerability is particularly significant for environments where SD-WAN Manager is deployed in multi-tenant or shared infrastructure models, as it bypasses intended access controls. Mitigation requires immediate credential rotation and implementation of filesystem-level access restrictions on affected systems running vulnerable Catalyst SD-WAN Manager versions.