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Identity Services EngineApplication · Cisco

CVE-2023-20077

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-05-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 3.1 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
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
Multiple vulnerabilities in the web-based management interface of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to download arbitrary files from the filesystem of an affected device. These vulnerabilities are due to insufficient input validation. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by sending crafted HTTP requests to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to download arbitrary files from the underlying filesystem of the affected device.

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 confidence

Multiple vulnerabilities in the web-based management interface of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) allow authenticated remote attackers to download arbitrary files from the device filesystem due to insufficient input validation in crafted HTTP requests.

MitigationApply Cisco's patch for CVE-2023-20077 to affected ISE installations; restrict web management interface access to authorized administrators only until patched.

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
Affected:<= 3.1= 3.2

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed Cisco ISE version
    Log into the ISE CLI and run 'show version' or access the web UI and navigate to Administration > System > Settings > Product ID/Version to view the exact version number
    Affected if The installed version is 3.2.0 or any release in the 3.1.x family (3.1.0 through 3.1.x)
  2. Confirm web-based management interface is enabled
    In the ISE web UI, navigate to Administration > System > Settings > Administration > Web Portal Settings, or check via CLI with 'show running-config | include http' to see if HTTP/HTTPS services are active
    Affected if The web-based management interface (HTTP or HTTPS) is accessible and enabled on any interface
  3. Verify external or administrative web access exists
    Check network access settings under Administration > System > Deployment > Nodes > [node] > General Settings, or review the interface bindings for the Admin portal to confirm which IP addresses or networks can reach the web UI
    Affected if The web management interface is bound to routable IP addresses or is accessible from networks beyond localhost
  4. Review admin user accounts with web UI access
    In the ISE web UI, go to Administration > Identity Management > Identities > Users or Administrators to enumerate accounts that have permissions to access the administrative web portal
    Affected if There are one or more user or administrator accounts configured with access to the ISE web interface (even if those credentials are complex, the vulnerability allows authenticated file download)

You are affected if your Cisco ISE version is 3.1.x (any release up to and including 3.1) or exactly 3.2.0, AND the web-based management interface is enabled and accessible with valid credentials.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 3.1
Interim mitigation

Apply Cisco's patch for CVE-2023-20077 to affected ISE installations; restrict web management interface access to authorized administrators only until patched.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Cisco ISE version 3.3 or later (obtain exact fixed version from Cisco advisory)

  1. Check current Cisco ISE version via Administration > System > Licensing > Software Version
  2. Confirm you are running version 3.1 or earlier, or exactly version 3.2
  3. Contact Cisco TAC or access the Cisco ISE security advisory at sec.cloudapps.cisco.com to obtain the fixed release
  4. Schedule a maintenance window for the upgrade
  5. Back up the Cisco ISE configuration before upgrading
  6. Download the fixed version from Cisco Software Central
  7. Follow Cisco's ISE upgrade procedure documentation to apply the update
Caveat Review Cisco ISE upgrade guide for any compatibility considerations; test in staging environment before production deployment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Identity Services Engine Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2023-20077 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data