Multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to issue commands on the underlying operating system as the root user.
For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory.
Cisco has released software updates that address these vulnerabilities. There are no workarounds that address these vulnerabilities.
Details
The vulnerabilities are not dependent on one another. Exploitation of one of the vulnerabilities is not required to exploit the other vulnerability. In addition, a software release that is affected by one of the vulnerabilities may not be affected by the other vulnerability.
Details about the vulnerabilities are as follows:
CVE-2025-20281: 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.
Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.
Bug ID(s): CSCwo99449
CVE ID: CVE-2025-20281
Security Impact Rating (SIR): Critical
CVSS Base Score: 10.0
CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVE-2025-20282: Cisco ISE API Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
A vulnerability in an internal API of Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to upload arbitrary files to an affected device and then execute those files on the underlying operating system as root.
This vulnerability is due a lack of file validation checks that would prevent uploaded files from being placed in privileged directories on an affected system. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by uploading a crafted file to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to store malicious files on the affected system and then execute arbitrary code or obtain root privileges on the system.
Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.
Bug ID(s): CSCwp02821
CVE ID: CVE-2025-20282
Security Impact Rating (SIR): Critical
CVSS Base Score: 10.0
CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HWorkarounds
There are no workarounds that address these vulnerabilities.