CVE-2026-20287
Cisco Identity Services Engine Hardening Release - Improper Privlege Management Vulnerabilities
Public exploit available. Not confirmed exploited in the wild yet. No fix published yet.
What to do
No fixed build or workaround is published yet. Limit exposure and watch for a patch.
Steps
Written by AI from the record- Ask your IT team or Cisco support whether your Cisco Identity Services Engine deployment is affected by CVE-2026-20287.
- Check Cisco’s security advisory for an available fixed version; no patch or fixed version information is currently available.
- Restrict and review highly privileged administrator accounts until Cisco provides remediation.
- Review administrator activity for unexpected permission or access-policy changes.
What it is
From the CVE record
As part of Cisco's ongoing commitment to proactive security and product quality, the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) engineering teams have conducted a comprehensive internal security review. This review resulted in a software hardening release that addresses multiple internally discovered vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities tracked by CVE-2026-20287 are related to improper privilege managment issues that are grouped under the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) Pillar CWE-269.
In plain language
Written by AI from the recordThis is a flaw in Cisco Identity Services Engine that may let someone who already has powerful access gain more control, and a typical small business using it should act urgently.
Improper privilege management (CWE-269) in Cisco Identity Services Engine and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector could enable privilege escalation by an authenticated, highly privileged attacker.
If you're affected
- Expanded administrator control
- Identity-system compromise
- Access policy changes
- Sensitive identity data exposure
- Operational disruption
Exploitation
Where each signal puts this CVE on the scale from published to confirmed exploited.
- CISA KEV
Not in the catalog. CISA has not confirmed exploitation.
- Public exploits
0 sources with a proof of concept or module.
Exploit links, PoCs and Metasploit modules after sign-in- EPSS
0.2% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the 10th percentile of scored CVEs.
Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST.org. A probability, not a confirmation.
Lifecycle
7 events over 2 days, from the signal feeds we watch.
- Record updated
- Record updatedrecord updated
- Publishedweakness classified, att&ck mapped, record updated
Affected products
Technical detail
CVSS 3.1 vector
Open in the CVSS calculatorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Scored 6.5 by NVD.
How it is reached
- Attack Vector NetworkExploitable remotely over the network without any special conditions
- Attack Complexity LowNo special conditions — the attack can be reliably reproduced
- Privileges Required HighRequires admin or elevated privileges
- User Interaction NoneNo user interaction needed — fully automated exploitation
Scope
- Scope UnchangedImpact is limited to the vulnerable component itself
Impact if exploited
- Confidentiality HighTotal information disclosure — all data in the component is compromised
- Integrity HighTotal loss of integrity — attacker can modify any data in the component
- Availability NoneNo availability impact
Weaknesses
ATT&CK techniques
Mapped from the weaknesses above (CWE to ATT&CK), not observed in attacks.
- Privilege EscalationT1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalationhigh confidence
Sources
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