Path Traversal in Cisco Identity Services Engine (CVE-2026-20181)
Summary
Path traversal in Cisco Identity Services Engine (CVE-2026-20181). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
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.
Source: Cisco Security Advisories NVD GitHub Advisory
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-20181 has been found in Cisco Identity Services Engine.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. CVSS score: 9.1/10.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Cisco Identity Services Engine CVE-2026-20181" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2026-20181 (Cisco Identity Services Engine) — CWE-22 / CVSS v3 9.1
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / no user interaction
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
Path traversal (CWE-22) exists in Cisco Identity Services Engine.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Cisco Identity Services Engine.
Severity: Critical (CVSS 9.1/10). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Audit SBOM/dependencies to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
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1Identify exposure identify
Audit SBOM/dependencies for affected components.資産台帳・SBOM・依存マニフェストで Cisco Identity Services Engine を使っているサービスとバージョンを洗い出す。
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2Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
References
- CISCO sec.cloudapps.cisco.com
- patch psirt@cisco.com
- web nvd.nist.gov
- web github.com