CVE-2025-20281: Cisco Identity Services Engine Injection Vulnerability
- Is it exploited?
Yes. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on , 33 days after the CVE record was published.
- How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?
- 97.6%
EPSS score, percentile 99.9 of all scored records
- How severe?
- 10.0 Critical
CVSS v3.1 base score, given by the CNA
- What should I do?
CISA deadline . Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
The CVE record links no vendor advisory, patch or mitigation.
- Which versions are affected?
Affected
- 3.3.0
- 3.3 Patch 2
- 3.3 Patch 1
- 3.3 Patch 3
- 3.4.0
- 3.3 Patch 4
and 3 more in the table below
Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of ; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of ; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of . About the data.
What to do
Required action, set by CISA
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
CISA due date for this action: .
Advisories and patches
The CVE record links no vendor advisory, patch or mitigation.
Linked from CISA's catalog entry
- https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-unauth-rce-ZAd2GnJ6
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-20281
Affected products and versions
As listed in the CVE record.
| Status | Versions |
|---|---|
| Affected | 3.3.0 |
| Affected | 3.3 Patch 2 |
| Affected | 3.3 Patch 1 |
| Affected | 3.3 Patch 3 |
| Affected | 3.4.0 |
| Affected | 3.3 Patch 4 |
| Affected | 3.4 Patch 1 |
| Affected | 3.3 Patch 5 |
| Affected | 3.3 Patch 6 |
Versions not listed are: unknown.
Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of . About the data.
About this vulnerability
Cisco Identity Services Engine contains an injection vulnerability in a specific API of Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input allowing an attacker to exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted API request. Successful exploitation could allow an attacker to perform remote code execution and obtaining root privileges on an affected device.
Summary: CISA's KEV catalog, as of .
- CISA added CVE-2025-20281 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 28 Jul 2025.
- CISA's ransomware flag for this entry is "Unknown": no evidence of ransomware use in the catalog, which is not proof of none.
- The due date CISA sets for the required action is 18 Aug 2025.
- The CVE record was published on 25 Jun 2025, 33 days before it was added to KEV.
- The CVE record carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 10.0 (Critical), given by its CNA.
- FIRST's EPSS model puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 97.6% (percentile 99.9), as of 28 Oct 2026.
- CISA's SSVC assessment in the CVE record: exploitation active, automatable yes, technical impact total.
Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of ; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of ; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of . About the data.
Description
Cisco ISE API Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
A vulnerability in a specific API of Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the underlying operating system as root. The attacker does not require any valid credentials to exploit this vulnerability. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted API request. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain root privileges on an affected device.
Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of . About the data.
Weakness
CWE and CAPEC are maintained by MITRE; the entries are those named in the CVE record and the KEV entry.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| CVE record published | |
| Added to CISA KEV | |
| CISA due date for the required action | |
| CVE record last updated |
References
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