Cisco Identity Services Engine Software up to 3.4.0 xml external entity reference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic was found in Cisco Identity Services Engine Software. The affected element is an unknown function. The manipulation results in xml external entity reference. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2026-20029. The attack can be executed remotely. There is not any exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in Cisco Identity Services Engine Software. Affected is an unknown function. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a xml external entity reference vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-611. The product processes an XML document that can contain XML entities with URIs that resolve to documents outside of the intended sphere of control, causing the product to embed incorrect documents into its output. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality. CVE summarizes:

A vulnerability in the licensing features of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker with administrative privileges to gain access to sensitive information.  This vulnerability is due to improper parsing of XML that is processed by the web-based management interface of Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by uploading a malicious file to the application. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to read arbitrary files from the underlying operating system that could include sensitive data that should otherwise be inaccessible even to administrators. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid administrative credentials.

The advisory is available at sec.cloudapps.cisco.com. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-20029 since 10/08/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The exploitation needs additional levels of successful authentication. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not available. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/08/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 282331 (Cisco Identity Services Engine (cisco-sa-ise-xxe-jWSbSDKt)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (282331) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0039). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Affected

• Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Productinfo

Type

• Policy Management Software

Vendor

• Cisco

Name

• Identity Services Engine Software

Version

• 3.1.0
• 3.1.0 p1
• 3.1.0 p2
• 3.1.0 p3
• 3.1.0 p4
• 3.1.0 p5
• 3.1.0 p6
• 3.1.0 p7
• 3.1.0 p8
• 3.1.0 p9
• 3.1.0 p10
• 3.2.0
• 3.2.0 p1
• 3.2.0 p2
• 3.2.0 p3
• 3.2.0 p4
• 3.2.0 p5
• 3.2.0 p6
• 3.2.0 p7
• 3.3.0
• 3.4.0

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.cisco.com/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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