CVE-2025-20282: cisco cisco identity services engine software Improper Privilege Management

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2025-20282 is a critical (CVSS 10.0) Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in cisco cisco identity services engine software. EPSS estimates a 38.72% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 98.5% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 25-06-2025
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 26-02-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

A vulnerability in an internal API of Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to upload arbitrary files to an affected device and then execute those files on the underlying operating system as root. This vulnerability is due a lack of file validation checks that would prevent uploaded files from being placed in privileged directories on an affected system. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by uploading a crafted file to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to store malicious files on the affected system and then execute arbitrary code or obtain root privileges on the system.

• CWE-269Improper Privilege ManagementThe product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.