Identity Services EngineApplication · Cisco
CVE-2026-20136
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 CLI of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) could allow an authenticated, local attacker with administrative privileges to perform a command injection attack on the underlying operating system and elevate privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by providing crafted input to a specific CLI command. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to elevate their privileges to root on the underlying operating system.
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 confidenceA command injection vulnerability exists in the CLI of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC). An authenticated attacker with administrative privileges can inject arbitrary OS commands through insufficiently validated user input in a specific CLI command, achieving root-level privilege escalation 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= 3.3.0= 3.4.0= 3.5.0
Identity Services Engine Passive Identity ConnectorApplication
< 3.3.0= 3.3.0= 3.4.0= 3.5.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 Cisco ISE versionLog into the ISE admin UI and navigate to Administration > System > Deployment, or use the CLI command 'show version' to determine the installed software versionAffected if Version is < 3.3.0, = 3.3.0, = 3.4.0, or = 3.5.0
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Identify ISE-PIC versionFor ISE Passive Identity Connector installations, check the version via the admin interface or run 'show version' on the PIC applianceAffected if Version is < 3.3.0, = 3.3.0, = 3.4.0, or = 3.5.0
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Confirm administrative CLI access existsReview user accounts with administrative privileges that have CLI shell access. In ISE UI, check Administration > Users and Administrators > Admin Users. An attacker needs authenticated administrative CLI access to exploit this flawAffected if Any administrative user account with CLI privileges exists on the system
Environment is affected if running Cisco ISE or ISE-PIC versions 3.3.0, 3.4.0, 3.5.0, or any version prior to 3.3.0, and administrative CLI access is enabled for any user.
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.
dbcve · scoped3.3.0
Apply vendor-supplied patches when available. Limit administrative CLI access to trusted personnel only. As a defensive measure pending patch, monitor for unusual command execution patterns and unexpected privilege escalation events in system logs.
Cisco ISE 3.3.1, 3.4.1, 3.5.1, or latest stable release (3.6.0+)
- Back up the current ISE configuration before initiating any upgrade
- Download the fixed version of Cisco ISE from the Cisco software download page (requires valid service contract)
- Schedule a maintenance window as upgrades require downtime
- Follow Cisco's official upgrade guide for ISE, ensuring you upgrade to version 3.3.1 or later (or 3.4.1+, 3.5.1+, or the next major release)
- After upgrade, verify the CLI command injection vulnerability is resolved by confirming the fix is applied
- Verify administrative functionality works correctly post-upgrade
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
- Implementation4.0 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 $3,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-20136 — 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-2026-20136 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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