Cisco Identity Services Engine Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-20181 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | cisco |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-06-17 17:16:42 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-06-22 14:31:46 UTC |
| Description | A vulnerability in Cisco ISE and ISE-PIC could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system of an affected device. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid administrative credentials. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain user-level access to the underlying operating system and then elevate privileges to root. In single-node deployments, successful exploitation of this vulnerability could cause the affected ISE node to become unavailable, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. In that condition, endpoints that have not already authenticated would be unable to access the network until the node is restored. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v3.1 9.1 CRITICAL from [email protected]
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS: 0.005720000 probability, percentile 0.427360000 (date 2026-06-21)
Problem Types: CWE-22 | CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Secondary | 9.1 | CRITICAL | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| 3.1 | CNA | CVSSV3_1 | 9.1 | CRITICAL | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
Attack Vector
NetworkAttack Complexity
LowPrivileges Required
HighUser Interaction
NoneScope
ChangedConfidentiality
HighIntegrity
HighAvailability
HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)
Vendor Declared Affected Products
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-mu... | [email protected] | sec.cloudapps.cisco.com | Vendor Advisory |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
No vendor comments have been submitted for this CVE.
Additional Advisory Data
Exploits
CNA: The Cisco PSIRT is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of the vulnerabilities that are described in this advisory.
There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.