---
id: CVE-2026-20181
title: >-
  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
summary: >-
  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 ad…
severity: critical
cvss: 9.1
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-22
vendor: cisco
product: identity_services_engine
affected:
  - identity_services_engine < 3.3.0
  - identity_services_engine = 3.3.0
  - identity_services_engine = 3.4.0
  - identity_services_engine = 3.5.0
  - identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector < 3.3.0
  - identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector = 3.3.0
  - identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector = 3.4.0
patched:
  - identity_services_engine 3.3.0
  - identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector 3.3.0
published: '2026-06-17'
updated: '2026-09-25'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-25T16:41:50.477'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-20181'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-multi-G5WP8vv
    label: psirt@cisco.com
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.08931
epssPercentile: 0.9506
ingestedAt: '2026-09-25T17:13:13.994Z'
---

## Overview

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.

## Affected

- `identity_services_engine < 3.3.0`
- `identity_services_engine = 3.3.0`
- `identity_services_engine = 3.4.0`
- `identity_services_engine = 3.5.0`
- `identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector < 3.3.0`
- `identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector = 3.3.0`
- `identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector = 3.4.0`

## Remediation

Upgrade past the affected range:

- `identity_services_engine 3.3.0`
- `identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector 3.3.0`