Identity Services EngineApplication · Cisco
CVE-2025-20281
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 a specific API of Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the underlying operating system as root. The attacker does not require any valid credentials to exploit this vulnerability. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted API request. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain root privileges on an 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 · moderate confidenceThis is a critical command injection vulnerability in the API of Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine) and Cisco ISE-PIC. An unauthenticated remote attacker can submit a crafted API request with malicious input that bypasses validation, allowing arbitrary code execution with root privileges on the underlying operating system.
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
= 3.3.0= 3.4.0
Identity Services Engine Passive Identity ConnectorApplication
= 3.3.0= 3.4.0CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 Cisco ISE installation and versionLog into the Cisco ISE CLI and run 'show version' or 'show software version' to display the installed Cisco ISE version. Alternatively, access the ISE admin web UI and navigate to Administration > System > Deployment to view node details and versions.Affected if The displayed version is exactly 3.3.0 or exactly 3.4.0
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Identify Cisco ISE-PIC installation and versionLog into the Cisco ISE-PIC CLI and run 'show version' to display the installed version. If using the ISE admin UI, check the Deployment page for Passive Identity Connector nodes specifically.Affected if The displayed version is exactly 3.3.0 or exactly 3.4.0
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Verify network exposure of ISE management interfacesReview network firewall rules, ACLs, or perimeter security devices to determine if TCP port 443 (admin web UI) or TCP port 22 (CLI SSH) on ISE management interfaces is accessible from untrusted networks or the internet.Affected if The ISE management interface is reachable from untrusted networks without VPN or network segmentation filtering
You are affected if you are running Cisco ISE or Cisco ISE-PIC version 3.3.0 or 3.4.0 AND the ISE management interface is network-accessible from untrusted networks.
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 when available. As a temporary measure, restrict network access to the ISE management interface to only trusted administrative networks and monitor for suspicious API requests.
Fix this in Identity Services Engine
Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-20281 — 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-2025-20281 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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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.
- 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