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CVE-2025-20282VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2025-20282: Cisco Identity Services Engine Software · Improper Privilege Management

Affects Cisco Identity Services Engine SoftwareSource CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · public detection template (Nuclei) · 38% EPSS · CVSS 10.0 Critical.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 07:57 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
10.0Critical
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
38.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 98% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 25 Jun 2025

  2. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  3. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  4. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Cisco Cisco Identity Services Engine SoftwareAffected
  • =3.4.0
Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Organizations should immediately upgrade Cisco ISE to a fixed version once Cisco releases a patch addressing CVE-2025-20282. Until a patch is available, implement strict network segmentation to isolate Cisco ISE servers from untrusted networks and limit access to trusted administrators only. Employ network-level access controls such as firewalls and intrusion prevention systems to block unauthorized traffic to Cisco ISE management interfaces. Monitor logs and network traffic for unusual file upload activity or execution patterns on Cisco ISE devices. Disable or restrict any unnecessary APIs or services that could be exploited for file uploads. Conduct regular vulnerability scans and penetration tests focusing on Cisco ISE deployments. Additionally, implement multi-factor authentication and strong credential management for administrative access to reduce risk from lateral movement if compromise occurs. Maintain an incident response plan specifically addressing potential Cisco ISE compromise scenarios.

Description

A vulnerability in an internal API of Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to upload arbitrary files to an affected device and then execute those files on the underlying operating system as root. This vulnerability is due a lack of file validation checks that would prevent uploaded files from being placed in privileged directories on an affected system. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by uploading a crafted file to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to store malicious files on the affected system and then execute arbitrary code or obtain root privileges on the system.

References

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