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Identity Services Engine SoftwareApplication · Cisco

CVE-2013-5540

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-10-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
74/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The file-upload feature in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (disk consumption and administration-interface outage) by uploading many files, aka Bug ID CSCui67519.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

The Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) file-upload feature suffers from a resource exhaustion vulnerability where remote authenticated users can upload excessive quantities of files, consuming disk space and causing the administration interface to become unavailable. This is a denial-of-service condition caused by unbounded file upload operations without proper quotas or rate limiting.

MitigationApply the relevant Cisco ISE security update or patch for Bug ID CSCui67519. Implement compensating controls such as file upload rate limiting, storage quotas per user, and monitoring of upload patterns to detect abuse.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Identity Services Engine SoftwareApplication
Affected:all versions
Identity Services EngineHardware / appliance
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
Single
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:C

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Cisco ISE is deployed
    Inventory your network for Cisco Identity Services Engine installations by reviewing installed software, network services, or system documentation
    Affected if Cisco ISE software is found in the environment
  2. Identify Cisco ISE version
    Access the Cisco ISE admin interface and navigate to Administration > System > Settings > Product Version, or use the CLI command 'show version' to determine the installed version
    Affected if Any version of Cisco ISE is installed (all versions are affected)
  3. Verify administration interface accessibility
    Determine if the Cisco ISE admin web interface (port 443/8443) is exposed to the network and accessible to remote users
    Affected if The admin interface is network-accessible to authenticated users or potential attackers
  4. Check for file upload quota configuration
    Review Cisco ISE configuration settings under Administration > System > Admin Session Settings or equivalent for user file upload quotas or rate limits
    Affected if No upload quotas or rate limiting is configured for the file upload feature
  5. Inspect disk space for exhaustion
    Monitor available disk space on the Cisco ISE server using 'show disk' CLI command or system monitoring tools
    Affected if Disk space is critically low or nearly exhausted, indicating possible upload abuse
  6. Review logs for anomalous upload patterns
    Examine Cisco ISE logs (Admin > Logging > Log Viewer) for repeated file upload events from the same user or unusual upload activity
    Affected if Logs show excessive file uploads from authenticated users exceeding normal administrative patterns

A Cisco ISE installation is affected if the admin interface is network-accessible and the file upload feature lacks quota or rate limiting controls, making it vulnerable to resource exhaustion from authenticated user uploads.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the relevant Cisco ISE security update or patch for Bug ID CSCui67519. Implement compensating controls such as file upload rate limiting, storage quotas per user, and monitoring of upload patterns to detect abuse.

Fix this in Identity Services Engine Software Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-5540 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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