# CVE-2013-5540: Denial of service in n/a

> Authenticated users can cause denial of service in Cisco ISE by uploading many files, consuming disk space and disabling the admin interface.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 16 Oct 2013
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-75qm-74mm-2c33

## What is CVE-2013-5540?

CVE-2013-5540 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine, published on 16 Oct 2013. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The file-upload feature in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (disk consumption and administration-interface outage) by uploading many files, aka Bug ID CSCui67519.

Weakness: CWE-399

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2013-5540?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Cisco Identity Services Engine, Cisco Identity Services Engine Software.

## How do I fix CVE-2013-5540?

No fix has been published for CVE-2013-5540 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2013-5540 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-5540 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Identity Services Engine

- [CVE-2026-76460](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76460/): Cisco Identity Services Engine Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-20337](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20337/): Cisco Identity Services Engine Injection (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-20281](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20281/): Cisco Identity Services Engine Injection (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-20130](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20130/): Cisco Identity Services Engine Hardening Release - Improper Neutralization Vulnerabilities (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2026-20192](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20192/): Cisco Identity Services Engine Hardening Release - Access Control Vulnerabilities (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2013-5540 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2013-5540 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine, published on 16 Oct 2013. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-5540 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Identity Services Engine. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-5540/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-5540/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2013-5540
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-5540
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2013-5540

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-5540/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.