Open Source Snort 3 Control Channel Socket Arbitrary Command Execution Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the control channel socket implementation of Open Source Snort 3 could allow an authenticated, local attacker with low privileges to execute arbitrary commands as the Snort 3 process user.

This vulnerability is due to a lack of authentication when a local user connects to the Snort control channel socket. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by connecting to the Snort 3 control channel socket as a local user. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as well as read and write Snort 3 process memory.

Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.

This advisory is part of a group of advisories. For a complete list of the advisories and links to them, see Cisco Advance Notification for Publication of October 21, 2026, Security Advisories ["https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-notice-QGwHnJ6k"]. In addition, for further documentation of improvements and fixes in Open Source Snort 3, see Multiple Cisco Products Snort 3 Security Hardening Release: October 2026 ["https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-hardening-snort3-ybgmhTQe"].

CVE-2026-76524 — Open Source Snort 3 Control Channel Socket Aribitrary Command Execution Vulnerability (CVSS 3.1 7.8, CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)