Cisco Identity Services Engine Path Traversal Vulnerability
Summary
A vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform path traversal attacks on the underlying operating system to either read or delete arbitrary files. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid administrative credentials. This vulnerability is due to improper validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to access sensitive files or delete arbitrary files on the affected system. Cisco plans to release software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability. This advisory is available at the following link:https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-traversal-xNt7wb2Y <br/>Security Impact Rating: Medium <br/>CVE: CVE-2026-20146
What this means
In plain English
A vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform path traversal attacks on the underlying operating system to either read or delete arbitrary files. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid administrative credentials. This vulnerability is due to improper validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to access sensitive files or delete arbitrary files on the affected system. Path traversal can escape an intended file location and expose files or directories available to the affected process.
Vulnerable items
- Identity Services Engine Software
- ISE Passive Identity Connector — Cisco Identity Services Engine provides network-access control, device profiling and identity-based policy enforcement.
Recommended action
Primary action: update to a vendor-listed fixed release: 3.3 Patch 12 (Sep 2026), 3.4 Patch 7 (Sep 2026) or hot patch, 3.5 Patch 4 (Sep 2026) or hot patch. Vendor mitigation: Upgrade to the first fixed release for your train per the Fixed Releases table in this advisory. Earlier than 3.3: migrate to a fixed release. Release 3.3: upgrade to 3.3 Patch 12 (Sep 2026). Release 3.4: upgrade to 3.4 Patch 7 (Sep 2026) or hot patch. Release 3.51: upgrade to 3.5 Patch 4 (Sep 2026) or hot patch. Temporary workaround: There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.
Rewritten locally from the scraped official advisory data above; no generative API is used. The vendor advisory is authoritative.
- Scope: At the time of publication, this vulnerability affected Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC, regardless of device configuration.
- Earlier than 3.3 — Migrate to a fixed release
- Release 3.3 (first fixed: 3.3 Patch 12 (Sep 2026))
- Release 3.4 (first fixed: 3.4 Patch 7 (Sep 2026) or hot patch)
- Release 3.51 (first fixed: 3.5 Patch 4 (Sep 2026) or hot patch)
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 2 hours ago·verify at source
- 3.3 Patch 12 (Sep 2026)
- 3.4 Patch 7 (Sep 2026) or hot patch
- 3.5 Patch 4 (Sep 2026) or hot patch
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 2 hours ago·verify at source
Mitigation checklist
- Upgrade to the first fixed release for your train per the Fixed Releases table in this advisory.
- Earlier than 3.3: migrate to a fixed release.
- Release 3.3: upgrade to 3.3 Patch 12 (Sep 2026).
- Release 3.4: upgrade to 3.4 Patch 7 (Sep 2026) or hot patch.
- Release 3.51: upgrade to 3.5 Patch 4 (Sep 2026) or hot patch.
- There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 2 hours ago·verify at source
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