CISCO Security Advisory
Published Date: Not specified
CVE: CVE-2026-20285
Advisory Summary
🗓️ 📆 Sep 16, 2026
⬛▦ Title: 📌 Cisco ISE Authorization Bypass Vulnerabilities—Privilege Enforcement Gap
⚠️ ALARM | What happened
Cisco disclosed multiple authorization bypass vulnerabilities in the web-based management interface of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC). The issue centers on insufficient server-side validation of Administrator permissions.
- A threat actor who is authenticated (i.e., has valid Administrator credentials) could send a crafted HTTP request.
- Successful exploitation may allow the attacker to modify portions of the configuration (specifically descriptions of files on certain pages).
- Impact rating: Medium
- No workarounds are provided—software updates are required.
- They can enable tampering paths that are intended to be blocked at the permission-validation layer.
- They may help persistence/stealth, change administrative views/content, or set the stage for follow-on actions depending on how the UI/API maps to configuration objects.
- ISE web-based management UI
- ISE-PIC web management context
- Likely relies on HTTP request handling for administrative functions (crafted request vector)
- Identify your exact ISE/ISE-PIC versions and apply the Cisco-released security updates referenced in the advisory.
- Audit for Administrator credential quality (MFA usage, password policy, SSO controls).
- Reduce the number of accounts with Administrator-level access (least privilege).
- Review management interface logs for unexpected HTTP requests, odd UI/API behavior, or changes to file descriptions/config-linked metadata.
- After patching, verify that the previously reachable admin-only functions are properly blocked/validated under non-authorized permission scenarios (per Cisco guidance).
🔗
-2026-20285
Reference: Vendor Advisory