Known Exploited Vulnerability
10.0
CRITICAL CVSS 3.1
CVE-2025-20337
Cisco Identity Services Engine Injection Vulnerability - [Actively Exploited]
Description

A vulnerability in a specific API of Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the underlying operating system as root. The attacker does not require any valid credentials to exploit this vulnerability. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted API request. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain root privileges on an affected device.

INFO

Published Date :

July 16, 2025, 5:15 p.m.

Last Modified :

Oct. 28, 2025, 1:58 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

Yes !
CISA Notification
CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)

For the benefit of the cybersecurity community and network defenders—and to help every organization better manage vulnerabilities and keep pace with threat activity—CISA maintains the authoritative source of vulnerabilities that have been exploited in the wild.

Description :

Cisco Identity Services Engine contains an injection vulnerability in a specific API of Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input allowing an attacker to exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted API request. Successful exploitation could allow an attacker to perform remote code execution and obtaining root privileges on an affected device.

Required Action :

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Notes :

https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-unauth-rce-ZAd2GnJ6 ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-20337

Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2025-20337 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Cisco identity_services_engine
2 Cisco identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector
CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 CRITICAL [email protected]
Solution
Update Cisco software to fix arbitrary code execution vulnerability.
  • Update Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC to the latest version.
  • Apply vendor-supplied security patches promptly.
  • Restrict access to vulnerable APIs.
  • Monitor network traffic for suspicious activity.
Public PoC/Exploit Available at Github

CVE-2025-20337 has a 4 public PoC/Exploit available at Github. Go to the Public Exploits tab to see the list.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2025-20337.

URL Resource
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-unauth-rce-ZAd2GnJ6 Vendor Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-20337 US Government Resource
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2025-20337 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2025-20337 weaknesses.

CAPEC-3: Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters CAPEC-6: Argument Injection Argument Injection CAPEC-7: Blind SQL Injection Blind SQL Injection CAPEC-8: Buffer Overflow in an API Call Buffer Overflow in an API Call CAPEC-9: Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities CAPEC-10: Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables CAPEC-13: Subverting Environment Variable Values Subverting Environment Variable Values CAPEC-14: Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow CAPEC-24: Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow CAPEC-28: Fuzzing Fuzzing CAPEC-34: HTTP Response Splitting HTTP Response Splitting CAPEC-42: MIME Conversion MIME Conversion CAPEC-43: Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers CAPEC-45: Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links CAPEC-46: Overflow Variables and Tags Overflow Variables and Tags CAPEC-47: Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion CAPEC-51: Poison Web Service Registry Poison Web Service Registry CAPEC-52: Embedding NULL Bytes Embedding NULL Bytes CAPEC-53: Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash CAPEC-64: Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-67: String Format Overflow in syslog() String Format Overflow in syslog() CAPEC-71: Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-72: URL Encoding URL Encoding CAPEC-76: Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls CAPEC-78: Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-79: Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-80: Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-83: XPath Injection XPath Injection CAPEC-84: XQuery Injection XQuery Injection CAPEC-101: Server Side Include (SSI) Injection Server Side Include (SSI) Injection CAPEC-105: HTTP Request Splitting HTTP Request Splitting CAPEC-108: Command Line Execution through SQL Injection Command Line Execution through SQL Injection CAPEC-120: Double Encoding Double Encoding CAPEC-135: Format String Injection Format String Injection CAPEC-250: XML Injection XML Injection CAPEC-267: Leverage Alternate Encoding Leverage Alternate Encoding CAPEC-273: HTTP Response Smuggling HTTP Response Smuggling

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

CVE-2025-20337

Updated: 1 week, 1 day ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : Nov. 13, 2025, 3:39 p.m. This repo has been linked 3 different CVEs too.

None

Updated: 3 months, 3 weeks ago
1 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : July 19, 2025, 10:18 a.m. This repo has been linked 1 different CVEs too.

CISA Bot is a GitHub bot that automatically monitors the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog. When new vulnerabilities are published in the KEV, the bot creates GitHub issues in this repository with detailed information about each vulnerability.

Python

Updated: 2 months, 3 weeks ago
2 stars 1 fork 1 watcher
Born at : Oct. 29, 2024, 10:19 a.m. This repo has been linked 206 different CVEs too.

📡 PoC auto collect from GitHub. ⚠️ Be careful Malware.

security cve exploit poc vulnerability

Updated: 5 days, 18 hours ago
7382 stars 1217 fork 1217 watcher
Born at : Dec. 8, 2019, 1:03 p.m. This repo has been linked 824 different CVEs too.

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2025-20337 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

  • The Cyber Express
Android Reports Major Drop in Memory Bugs as Rust Adoption Accelerates

Android has shared new insights into how the platform’s long-term shift toward Rust is reshaping both security and software development. The new data reflects a decisive move toward memory safety, and ... Read more

Published Date: Nov 14, 2025 (1 week ago)
  • The Cyber Express
Akira Ransomware Group Poses ‘Imminent Threat’ to Critical Infrastructure: CISA

The Akira ransomware group poses an “imminent threat to critical infrastructure,” the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned today. CISA joined with the FBI, other U.S. ag ... Read more

Published Date: Nov 13, 2025 (1 week ago)
  • The Cyber Express
Ransomware Attacks Soared 30% in October

Ransomware attacks soared 30% in October to the second-highest total on record, Cyble reported today. The 623 ransomware attacks recorded in October were second only to February 2025’s record attacks, ... Read more

Published Date: Nov 13, 2025 (1 week, 1 day ago)
  • security.nl
Citrix Bleed en Cisco ISE-kwetsbaarheid als zero-day uitgebuit in geavanceerde aanvalscampagne

De Citrix Bleed 2 kwetsbaarheid (CVE-2025-5777) en een zero-day lek in een ongedocumenteerde endpoint van Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) (CVE-2025-20337) zijn door aanvallers uitgebuit voordat d ... Read more

Published Date: Nov 13, 2025 (1 week, 1 day ago)
  • The Cyber Express
Zero-Day Vulnerabilities in Cisco and Citrix Targeted by APT Group, Amazon Confirms

Amazon’s threat intelligence division has revealed a cyber-espionage campaign involving an advanced persistent threat (APT) group exploiting previously undisclosed zero-day vulnerabilities in systems ... Read more

Published Date: Nov 13, 2025 (1 week, 1 day ago)
  • The Register
Attackers turned Citrix, Cisco 0-day exploits into custom-malware hellscape

An "advanced" attacker exploited CitrixBleed 2 and a max-severity Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) bug as zero-days to deploy custom malware, according to Amazon Chief Information Security Officer ... Read more

Published Date: Nov 12, 2025 (1 week, 2 days ago)
  • CybersecurityNews
Hackers Actively Exploiting Cisco and Citrix 0-Days in the Wild to Deploy Webshell

An advanced hacking group is actively exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Citrix systems. These attacks, spotted in real-world operations, allow hackers to ... Read more

Published Date: Nov 12, 2025 (1 week, 2 days ago)
  • BleepingComputer
Hackers exploited Citrix, Cisco ISE flaws in zero-day attacks

An advanced threat actor exploited the critical vulnerabilities “Citrix Bleed 2" (CVE-2025-5777) in NetScaler ADC and Gateway, and CVE-2025-20337 affecting Cisco Identity Service Engine (ISE) as zero- ... Read more

Published Date: Nov 12, 2025 (1 week, 2 days ago)
  • The Hacker News
Amazon Uncovers Attacks Exploited Cisco ISE and Citrix NetScaler as Zero-Day Flaws

Nov 12, 2025Ravie LakshmananNetwork Security / Zero-Day Amazon's threat intelligence team on Wednesday disclosed that it observed an advanced threat actor exploiting two then-zero-day security flaws ... Read more

Published Date: Nov 12, 2025 (1 week, 2 days ago)
  • The Register
Cisco's Secure Firewall Management Center now not-so secure, springs a CVSS 10 RCE hole

Cisco has issued a patch for a maximum-severity bug in its Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) software that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to inject arbitrary shell commands on v ... Read more

Published Date: Aug 15, 2025 (3 months ago)
  • europa.eu
Cyber Brief 25-08 - July 2025

Cyber Brief (July 2025)August 4, 2025 - Version: 1TLP:CLEARExecutive summaryWe analysed 287 open source reports for this Cyber Brief1.Relating to cyber policy and law enforcement, the EU, UK, and US h ... Read more

Published Date: Aug 04, 2025 (3 months, 2 weeks ago)
  • The Cyber Express
CISA Adds Cisco ISE and PaperCut Vulnerabilities to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued a critical alert, adding three high-impact vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog. These inclu ... Read more

Published Date: Jul 29, 2025 (3 months, 3 weeks ago)
  • CybersecurityNews
CISA Warns of Cisco Identity Services Engine Vulnerability Exploited in Attacks

CISA has issued an urgent warning regarding two critical injection vulnerabilities in Cisco’s Identity Services Engine (ISE) that threat actors are actively exploiting. The vulnerabilities, tracked as ... Read more

Published Date: Jul 29, 2025 (3 months, 3 weeks ago)
  • TheCyberThrone
CISA adds CISCO ISE and PaperCut MF flaws to KEV Catalog

Skip to content July 29, 2025The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added three significant vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on July 2 ... Read more

Published Date: Jul 29, 2025 (3 months, 3 weeks ago)
  • BleepingComputer
Exploit available for critical Cisco ISE bug exploited in attacks

Security researcher Bobby Gould has published a blog post demonstrating a complete exploit chain for CVE-2025-20281, an unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services E ... Read more

Published Date: Jul 28, 2025 (3 months, 3 weeks ago)
  • Zero Day Initiative
CVE-2025-20281: Cisco ISE API Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

On January 25th, 2025, the Trend Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) received a report from Kentaro Kawane of GMO Cybersecurity by Ierae regarding a deserialization of untrusted data vulnerability in Cisco Iden ... Read more

Published Date: Jul 25, 2025 (3 months, 3 weeks ago)
  • security.nl
Shadowserver: kritiek Cisco ISE-lek sinds 5 juli misbruik bij aanvallen

Een kritieke kwetsbaarheid in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) en Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) is sinds 5 juli misbruikt bij aanvallen, zo stelt The Shadowserver Foundation, een ... Read more

Published Date: Jul 25, 2025 (3 months, 3 weeks ago)
  • The Register
No login? No problem: Cisco ISE flaw gave root access before fix arrived, say researchers

Threat actors have actively exploited a newly patched vulnerability in Cisco's Identity Services Engine (ISE) software since early July, weeks before the networking giant got around to issuing a fix. ... Read more

Published Date: Jul 24, 2025 (3 months, 3 weeks ago)
  • Help Net Security
Maximum severity Cisco ISE vulnerabilities exploited by attackers

One or more vulnerabilities affecting Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) are being exploited in the wild, Cisco has confirmed by updating the security advisory for the flaws. About the vulnerabiliti ... Read more

Published Date: Jul 23, 2025 (3 months, 4 weeks ago)
  • security.nl
Cisco waarschuwt voor actief misbruik van kritieke ISE-kwetsbaarheden

Aanvallers maken actief misbruik van kritieke kwetsbaarheden in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) en Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) waardoor kwetsbare servers volledig op afstand zi ... Read more

Published Date: Jul 22, 2025 (3 months, 4 weeks ago)

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2025-20337 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • Modified Analysis by [email protected]

    Oct. 28, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference Type CISA-ADP: https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-20337 Types: US Government Resource
  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Oct. 21, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-20337
  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Oct. 21, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Removed Reference https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-20337
  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Oct. 21, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-20337
  • CVE CISA KEV Update by 9119a7d8-5eab-497f-8521-727c672e3725

    Jul. 29, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Date Added 2025-07-28
    Added Due Date 2025-08-18
    Added Required Action Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
    Added Vulnerability Name Cisco Identity Services Engine Injection Vulnerability
  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Jul. 17, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.4.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.3.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.3.0:patch1:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.3.0:patch2:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.3.0:patch3:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.3.0:patch4:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.3.0:patch6:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.3.0:patch5:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.4.0:patch1:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector:3.4.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector:3.4.0:patch1:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector:3.3.0:patch5:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector:3.3.0:patch4:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector:3.3.0:patch3:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector:3.3.0:patch2:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector:3.3.0:patch1:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector:3.3.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine_passive_identity_connector:3.3.0:patch6:*:*:*:*:*:*
    Added Reference Type Cisco Systems, Inc.: https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-unauth-rce-ZAd2GnJ6 Types: Vendor Advisory
  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Jul. 16, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description A vulnerability in a specific API of Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the underlying operating system as root. The attacker does not require any valid credentials to exploit this vulnerability. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted API request. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain root privileges on an affected device.
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
    Added CWE CWE-74
    Added Reference https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-unauth-rce-ZAd2GnJ6
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
Vulnerability Scoring Details
Base CVSS Score: 10
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality Impact
Integrity Impact
Availability Impact