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Critical Cisco ISE Path Traversal Enables Remote Code Execution, Scores 9.9

Last refreshed2026-09-26

Status: EPSS-IMMINENT  |  Advisory ID: CVE-2026-20180

Key Details

CVECVE-2026-20180
CVSS Score / Version9.9 (Critical) / CVSS v3.1
Updated2026-09-23
CVSS VectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS Proseattack vector is network; attack complexity is low; privileges required is low; user interaction is none; scope is changed; confidentiality impact is high; integrity impact is high; availability impact is high.
Affected productsCisco Identity Services Engine
Classified asCWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal'))
Exploitation prediction (EPSS)6.02% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (93% percentile) -- FIRST.org's EPSS model.

Affected Products, Subsystems & Sectors

VendorProductAffected VersionsPatch Status
CiscoIdentity Services Engine
SubsystemsIndustrial Network - Routers/Firewalls
SectorsCritical Manufacturing, Energy, Transportation Systems, Water and Wastewater Systems

What to Know

A vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) 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 at least Read Only Admin 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 these vulnerabilities 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.

What to Do

Monitor Cisco's web page for any future patch releases. See vendor advisory link below.

References

SourceReference
NVDhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-20180
CVEhttps://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-20180
Vendor advisoryhttps://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-rce-4fverepv