Identity Services EngineApplication · Cisco
CVE-2025-20286
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 Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) cloud deployments of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to access sensitive data, execute limited administrative operations, modify system configurations, or disrupt services within the impacted systems. This vulnerability exists because credentials are improperly generated when Cisco ISE is being deployed on cloud platforms, resulting in different Cisco ISE deployments sharing the same credentials. These credentials are shared across multiple Cisco ISE deployments as long as the software release and cloud platform are the same. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by extracting the user credentials from Cisco ISE that is deployed in the cloud and then using them to access Cisco ISE that is deployed in other cloud environments through unsecured ports. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to access sensitive data, execute limited administrative operations, modify system configurations, or disrupt services within the impacted systems. Note: If the Primary Administration node is deployed in the cloud, then Cisco ISE is affected by this vulnerability. If the Primary Administration node is on-premises, then it is not affected.
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 confidenceCisco ISE deployed on AWS, Azure, and OCI has a credential generation flaw where deployments sharing the same software release and cloud platform receive identical credentials. An attacker can extract credentials from one ISE deployment and use them to access other ISE deployments in the cloud via unsecured ports, enabling data access, limited admin operations, configuration changes, or service disruption.
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
= 3.1.0= 3.2.0= 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
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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 versionRun 'show version' in the ISE CLI or check the ISE web UI under Administration > System > Deployment > Deployment to see the installed version numberAffected if The version displayed is 3.1.0, 3.2.0, 3.3.0, or 3.4.0
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Determine cloud platform deploymentCheck the ISE deployment configuration or cloud infrastructure inventory to identify if the ISE nodes are running on AWS, Azure, or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)Affected if Any ISE nodes are deployed on AWS, Azure, or OCI cloud platforms
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Verify administrative port exposureReview network security group rules, firewall policies, or cloud ACLs for open ports on the ISE nodes, particularly port 443 (HTTPS) and port 22 (SSH) from untrusted sourcesAffected if Administrative ports (443, 22, 8080) are accessible from the internet or untrusted networks
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Check for credential reuse indicatorsCompare credential configuration files or database entries across multiple ISE cloud deployments if more than one exists in the environmentAffected if Multiple ISE cloud deployments exist on the same platform and release version with identical or predictable credentials
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Review audit logs for unauthorized accessExamine ISE logs under Operations > Reports > RADIUS Live Logs or Administration > System > Logging > Audit Logs for authentication attempts from unexpected IP addressesAffected if Successful authentications occur from IP addresses not associated with legitimate administrators or from other cloud ISE deployments
A user is affected if they have Cisco ISE version 3.1.0 through 3.4.0 deployed on AWS, Azure, or OCI with exposed administrative ports, particularly if multiple cloud deployments exist on the same platform and software version.
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 dataDeploy the Primary Administration node on-premises (not in cloud) to avoid this vulnerability. If cloud deployment is required, contact Cisco for patches, rotate all credentials immediately, and restrict network access to administrative ports.
Fix this in Identity Services Engine
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-20286 — 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-2025-20286 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
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