Remote Code Execution in Cisco ISE and ISE-PIC
CVE-2026-20181 is a critical authenticated remote code execution vulnerability affecting Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC). The flaw is caused by insufficient validation of user-supplied input in HTTP request handling. An attacker with valid administrative credentials can send a crafted HTTP request to an affected device to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system. Successful exploitation can yield user-level access to the host OS and may then allow privilege escalation to root. In single-node deployments, exploitation can also cause the affected ISE node to become unavailable.
Are you exposed to this one?
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Impact, mitigation & remediation
What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.
Impact
What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.
Mitigation
If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.
Remediation
Patch, then assume compromise.
Exploits
No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.
No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.
Affected products & vendors
Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.
Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.
Recent activity
8 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
A critical remote code execution vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) that allows an authenticated remote attacker with valid administrative credentials to execute arbitrary commands and potentially escalate privileges to root.
A critical authenticated remote code execution vulnerability in Cisco ISE and ISE-PIC caused by insufficient validation of user-supplied input, allowing arbitrary command execution, user-level OS access, and potential privilege escalation to root.
The version that knows your environment.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.