Cisco Identity Services Engine Software Diagnostic Tools command injection

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as very critical has been identified in Cisco Identity Services Engine Software and ISE Passive Identity Connector. This affects an unknown function of the component Diagnostic Tools. Such manipulation leads to command injection. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-20305. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Cisco Identity Services Engine Software and ISE Passive Identity Connector (unknown version) and classified as very critical. Affected by this issue is an unknown code block of the component Diagnostic Tools. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a command injection vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-77. The product constructs all or part of a command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended command when it is sent to a downstream component. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

A vulnerability in the diagnostic tools of Cisco ISE and ISE-PIC could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform command injection attacks on the underlying operating system and elevate privileges to root. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid administrative credentials. This vulnerability is due to improper validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted commands to the web-based management interface of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the device and elevate privileges to root. In single-node 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.

The advisory is shared for download at sec.cloudapps.cisco.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-20305 since 10/08/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. The exploitation requires an enhanced level of successful authentication. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $5k-$25k (estimation calculated on 09/16/2026). The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1202.

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Type

• Policy Management Software

Vendor

• Cisco

Name

• Identity Services Engine Software
• ISE Passive Identity Connector

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.cisco.com/

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