CVE-2025-20283VulnerabilityPublished 16 Jul 2025Updated 26 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-20283: Cisco Identity Services Engine Software · Injection

Affects Cisco Identity Services Engine SoftwareSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · 13% EPSS · CVSS 6.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 13.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 96% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 16 Jul 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by 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.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Cisco Cisco Identity Services Engine Software	Affected =3.3.0 =3.4.0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Organizations should immediately identify and inventory all Cisco ISE deployments running affected versions (3.3.0 through 3.4 Patch 1 and related patches). Cisco should be consulted for official patches or updates addressing this vulnerability; if patches are not yet available, apply any recommended workarounds or configuration changes to restrict API access. Limit and strictly control high-privileged credentials, enforce strong authentication mechanisms, and monitor for unusual API activity or access patterns. Implement network segmentation to isolate Cisco ISE servers from untrusted networks and restrict management interfaces to trusted administrators only. Employ robust logging and alerting on API usage to detect potential exploitation attempts. Regularly audit user privileges and rotate credentials to reduce the risk of credential compromise. Consider deploying intrusion detection or prevention systems capable of identifying suspicious command injection attempts targeting Cisco ISE APIs. Maintain up-to-date backups and incident response plans to quickly recover from potential compromises.

Description

A vulnerability in a specific API of Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the underlying operating system as root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker with valid credentials could exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted API request. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute commands as the root user. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid high-privileged credentials.

Impact

The vulnerability poses a significant risk to organizations relying on Cisco ISE for network access control and identity management. Successful exploitation grants root-level code execution, enabling attackers to fully compromise the affected system. This could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive network resources, manipulation or bypass of access policies, and potential lateral movement within the network. The confidentiality and integrity of network authentication and authorization data could be severely impacted. Although availability is not directly affected, the overall security posture and trust in network access controls would be undermined. Organizations in sectors with stringent access control requirements, such as finance, healthcare, government, and critical infrastructure, face elevated risks. The requirement for high-privileged credentials reduces the likelihood of remote exploitation by external attackers but increases the threat from insider attacks or credential compromise scenarios.

References

sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-multi-3VpsXOxO (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 27 Feb 2026, 00:21 UTC

Technical details

References

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