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.
CVE-2025-20281
“—” beside the score: it is equal to NVD's CVSS score.
Score elevated to 10.0 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2025-07-28), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 10.0 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.
Also known asEUVD-2025-19167 (ENISA EUVD) · GHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw (GitHub Security Advisories)Source: ENISA EUVD
- Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV) — the reason this is sooner than the SSVC decision on this page at low mission impact
No fix is confirmed yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for the fix.
- CVSS v3
- 10.0
- EG Score
- 10.0CRITICALhigh confidence
- EG Risk
- 100EG Risk 100/100
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.
How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)Severity100% × 45%Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 10.0 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.Exploitation100% × 40%Fixed at 100% for a CISA KEV listing: EchelonGraph's rule.Automatability100% × 15%CISA's SSVC Automatable value: yes (Vulnrichment).SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Attend at low mission impact; Act at medium or high.Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable yes (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.Action: No fix is confirmed yet. Check the vendor's advisory for a fixed release; until one is applied, restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation sooner than your normal schedule at low mission impact and as soon as possible at medium or high. - EPSS PROB
- 98%
- EPSS %ILE
- 99th
- KEV
- ⚠ Exploited
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (10.0): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 10.0 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.
- EG Severity
- 10.0 CRITICALCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.NVD CVSS v3 · CVSS v3.0 or v3.1
- EG Likelihood
- 98% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-11-01). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- CISA KEV and EG-KEV Tier 1 (exploited in the wild)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Act at medium mission impactAttend at low mission impact; Act at medium or high.CISA BOD 26-04: 3 days & forensic triage if the affected system is publicly exposed; 3 days & forensic triage if it is not.No released fix is confirmed on this page, but CISA's timeline does not wait for a fix's release: this CVE is in CISA's KEV catalog, and CISA's required action for it, quoted below, applies whether or not a fix is released.Each input and its source, and whom BOD 26-04 binds: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Attend at low mission impact; Act at medium or high.
No fix is confirmed yet. Check the vendor's advisory for a fixed release; until one is applied, restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation sooner than your normal schedule at low mission impact and as soon as possible at medium or high.
Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable yes (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)3 days & forensic triage if the affected system is publicly exposed; 3 days & forensic triage if it is not.
No released fix is confirmed on this page, but CISA's timeline does not wait for a fix's release: this CVE is in CISA's KEV catalog, and CISA's required action for it, quoted below, applies whether or not a fix is released.
The score's inputs: In CISA KEV yes (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable yes (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it
CISA 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.”
Quoted verbatim from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. CISA directs it at US federal civilian executive branch agencies under Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 26-04, which replaced BOD 22-01 on 10 June 2026; it is not EchelonGraph's advice. CISA's notes: https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-unauth-rce-ZAd2GnJ6 · https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-20281
Published
June 25, 2025
Last Modified
October 28, 2025
Advisory Details (3)
Auto-updated Nov 1, 2026Zero Day Initiative — CVE-2025-20281: Cisco ISE API Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/blog/2025/7/24/cve-2025-20281-cisco-ise-api-unauthenticated-remote-code-execution-vulnerabilityKnown Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA
Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA. Listed in CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-20281Cisco Identity Services Engine Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-unauth-rce-ZAd2GnJ6Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 17× in last 7d / 103× in last 30d)
Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 930 refreshes on record for this CVE.
A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. None are among the latest 100 rows. The 830 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.
- 2026-11-02 05:49 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-11-02 05:49 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-11-01 08:04 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-11-01 08:04 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-31 10:18 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-31 10:18 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-30 12:29 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-30 12:29 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-29 16:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 98% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-29 14:44 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-29 14:44 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-28 16:59 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-28 16:58 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-27 19:11 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-27 19:11 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-26 21:26 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-26 21:26 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-25 23:41 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-25 16:44 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-25 16:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 98% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-25 01:55 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-25 01:55 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-24 04:11 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-24 04:11 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-23 06:24 UTCEG score recompute
Show 75 moreShow fewer
- 2026-10-23 06:24 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-22 08:39 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-22 08:38 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-21 16:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 98% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-21 10:54 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-21 10:54 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-20 13:09 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-20 13:08 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-19 15:20 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-18 17:34 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-18 17:34 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-18 05:47 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-17 19:47 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-17 19:46 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-16 22:01 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-16 22:01 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-16 00:15 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-16 00:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-15 02:27 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-15 02:27 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-14 16:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 98% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-14 04:40 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-14 04:39 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-13 06:54 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-12 17:21 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-12 09:08 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-12 04:47 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-12 00:28 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-11 20:09 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 20:09 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-11 19:02 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 15:50 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-11 15:42 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 11:32 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 11:32 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-11 07:13 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-11 02:54 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-10 22:34 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-10 18:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-10 13:55 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-10 09:35 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-10 05:16 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-10 00:57 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-09 20:38 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-09 16:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-09 12:00 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-09 07:40 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-09 03:21 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-08 23:02 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-08 18:43 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-08 14:24 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-08 10:05 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-08 05:46 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-08 01:27 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-07 21:08 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-07 16:49 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-07 12:28 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-07 08:09 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-07 03:50 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-06 23:31 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-06 19:12 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-06 14:53 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-06 10:33 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-06 06:14 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-06 01:55 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-05 21:35 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-05 17:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-05 12:56 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-05 08:38 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-05 04:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-04 23:59 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-04 19:41 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-04 15:22 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-04 11:02 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-04 06:43 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-rc4f-42xm-hvjw · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
Publicly available exploits
(4 references)Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (3 GitHub PoCs), as is 1 Nuclei detection template. A detection template checks whether a system is affected; it is not necessarily exploit code. No fix is confirmed yet, so defenders should restrict or isolate affected systems accordingly until one is published.
- Nucleihttp/cves/2025/CVE-2025-20281.yamlPublished Oct 15, 2025
Cisco ISE - Remote Code Execution
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCill-deed/Cisco-CVE-2025-20281-illdeedPublished Jul 4, 2025
Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution exploit for CVE-2025-20281 in Cisco ISE ERS API. Execute commands or launch reverse shells as root — no authentication required.
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCgrupooruss/CVE-2025-20281-CiscoPublished Jul 3, 2025
This script checks for the presence of the **CVE-2025-20281** vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and ISE-PIC, which allows **unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE)** as root due to insufficient input validation in a specific API.
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCabrewer251/CVE-2025-20281-2-Cisco-ISE-RCEPublished Jun 27, 2025
Unauthenticated Python PoC for CVE-2025-20281 RCE against ISE ERS API
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same CWE)
Same CWE
10 shownCWE-74
Frequently asked(6)
What is CVE-2025-20281?
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Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2025-20281
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