CVE-2026-20180: Cisco Identity Services Engine Multiple Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
Description revised (poc_count, poc_public, poc_url). The record changed; nothing in the observed threat did.
CVE record, CISA KEV and EPSS as of 2026-10-18.
CVEs like this one computed, by meaning
What to do now held facts and links
- Upgrade to identity services engine 3.2.0 or later upper bounds of the CVE record's affected ranges
- Record your decision, dated and frozen with today's evidence: patch by a date · mitigated by a compensating control · deferred · accepted the risk · not affected
- Check your version against the ranges this record publishes.
What it is stated by the CNA
A vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system of an affected device. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have at least Read Only Admin credentials. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain user-level access to the underlying operating system and then elevate privileges to root. In single-node ISE deployments, successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could cause the affected ISE node to become unavailable, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. …
- weakness
- CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
- affected
- Cisco Identity Services Engine Software
- published ranges
- cisco identity services engine < 3.2.0; cisco identity services engine 3.2.0; cisco identity services engine 3.2.0-patch1; cisco identity services engine 3.2.0-patch2; and 17 more on the CVE page
- first unaffected version, by branch
- identity services engine 3.2.0
- severity
- 9.9 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- assigned by
- cisco
- published
- 2026-04-15
check us sec.cloudapps.cisco.com
Exploit code held, dated
- exploit code
- 1 public proof-of-concept repository, first seen 2026-04-21 (PoC-in-GitHub).
What moved held, dated
| date | EPSS | event |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Apr 2026 | 0.00211 | |
| 21 Apr 2026 | 0.00261 | |
| 17 May 2026 | 0.00295 | |
| 22 May 2026 | 0.00469 | |
| 15 Jun 2026 | 0.05972 | scoring model v2026.06.15 |
| 9 Jul 2026 | 0.06381 | |
| 14 Sep 2026 | 0.06024 |
7 observations held. A step marked with a scoring model moved because the measurement was replaced, not because the vulnerability changed.
Outside the record researched, cited
This section reads the record's references and adds cited findings from outside it. It needs an account. Everything above is held facts and is complete without it.
What would change this brief held, dated
- CISA KEV
- Not listed in the catalogue we hold. A listing changes this brief.
- exploit probability
- 0.06 on 2026-09-14 (FIRST's EPSS, a probability and not evidence of exploitation). Next band line: 10% (0.10). Crossing a line changes this brief.
- fix
- Held: identity services engine 3.2.0. A newer fix from the CNA or OSV changes this brief.
How to check this
Every value above is held with two dates: when it was true upstream (as_of) and when we recorded it (tx_from). Re-derive the exploit probability as it stood on any date:
SELECT value, source, source_version, as_of, tx_from
FROM volatile_valid_as_of('CVE-2026-20180', '2026-10-31T23:59:59.999999Z', now());