CVE-2025-20281
critical · 10Actively exploitedOn the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
A public exploit / detection template exists
Weaponised detection is publicly available, which meaningfully raises real-world risk regardless of CVSS. nuclei-templates →
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.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weaknesses
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions |
|---|---|---|
| cisco | identity_services_engine | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine | 3.4.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine | 3.4.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector | 3.3.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector | 3.4.0 |
| cisco | identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector | 3.4.0 |
Check a specific version with /api/v1/cve/match.
References
- https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-unauth-rce-ZAd2GnJ6
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-20281
- https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/blog/2025/7/24/cve-2025-20281-cisco-ise-api-unauthenticated-remote-code-execution-vulnerability
Query this programmatically:
curl https://evil-db.io/api/v1/cve/CVE-2025-20281