Identity Services EngineApplication · Cisco
CVE-2017-6605
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 · uneditedA vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to conduct a reflective cross-site scripting (XSS) attack against a user of the web-based management interface of an affected device. More Information: CSCvc85415. Known Affected Releases: 2.1(0.800).
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 · high confidenceA reflective cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) allows an authenticated remote attacker to inject malicious scripts into the web-based management interface. The attack is reflective, meaning the malicious payload is part of a crafted request and reflected back to the victim without proper input sanitization.
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 EngineApplication
= 2.1\(0.800\)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
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed Cisco ISE versionAccess the Cisco ISE administrative interface and navigate to Administration > System > Licensing, or use the CLI command 'show version' to retrieve the exact software versionAffected if The version displayed is exactly 2.1(0.800)
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Confirm the web-based management interface is enabledCheck if the Cisco ISE web portal is accessible by attempting to reach the administrative URL (typically https://<ise-host>/admin/)Affected if The web interface responds and is reachable on the network
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Verify administrative access is configuredCheck if any administrative accounts exist and can log into the web management interface by reviewing the Administration > Identity Management > Identities sectionAffected if At least one administrative user account is active and can authenticate to the ISE web portal
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Assess network exposure of the management interfaceReview firewall rules or access control lists to determine if the ISE web management port (443/https) is exposed to untrusted networksAffected if The management interface is accessible from networks outside the trusted administrative zone
You are affected if your Cisco ISE installation is exactly version 2.1(0.800) and the web-based management interface is accessible, as this specific version contains the vulnerable parameter in the web interface that lacks proper input sanitization for reflected XSS.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply the vendor patch from Cisco (referenced by CSCvc85415) to address the vulnerable parameter in the web interface. Until patched, consider implementing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) and restricting administrative access to trusted IP ranges.
Fix this in Identity Services Engine
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-6605 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-6605 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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