cbcvebase.
CVE-2026-20147
published 2026-04-15

CVE-2026-20147: A vulnerability in Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system…

PriorityP279critical9.9CVSS 3.1
AVNACLPRLUINSCCHIHAH
EPSS
11.68%
95.6th percentile
A vulnerability in Cisco ISE and Cisco 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 ISE 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

129 ranges· showing 25
VendorProductVersion rangeFixed in
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software
ciscocisco_identity_services_engine_software

Detection & IOCsextracted from sources · hover to see the quote

  • Detect crafted HTTP requests targeting Cisco ISE administrative interface that could indicate exploitation of CVE-2026-20147 (RCE via insufficient input validation)
  • Monitor for unexpected OS-level process spawning from Cisco ISE web service processes, particularly privilege escalation to root, as indicator of successful exploitation
  • Investigate Cisco ISE nodes that become unexpectedly unavailable or cause DoS for endpoints attempting network authentication, as this may indicate exploitation in single-node deployments
  • Track Cisco bug IDs CSCws52717 and CSCws52738 associated with CVE-2026-20147 for vendor patch and detection content updates
  • Flag CWE-22 (Path Traversal) and CWE-77 (Command Injection) patterns in HTTP requests to Cisco ISE administrative endpoints as potential exploitation attempts
  • ·Exploitation requires valid administrative credentials; detections should be scoped to authenticated admin sessions to reduce false positives
  • ·Cisco ISE releases earlier than 3.1 and ISE-PIC releases earlier than 3.2 have no patch available and must migrate to a fixed release; these instances remain at highest risk
  • ·Fixed versions for CVE-2026-20147 include ISE 3.1 Patch 11, 3.2 Patch 10, 3.3 Patch 11, 3.4 Patch 6, and 3.5 Patch 3; detections should prioritize unpatched instances
  • ·No evidence of in-the-wild exploitation at time of disclosure; Cisco PSIRT confirmed no known active exploitation

CVSS provenance

nvdv3.19.9CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
vendor_cisco3.1
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