# CVE-2020-27122: Cisco Identity Services Engine Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

> An authenticated local attacker with admin access can exploit incorrect privilege assignment in AD integration to gain root privileges on Cisco ISE.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.4 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 6 Nov 2020
- **Updated:** 13 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-6p6p-v55h-88vc

## What is CVE-2020-27122?

CVE-2020-27122 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine, published on 6 Nov 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the Microsoft Active Directory integration of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges on an affected device. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to have a valid administrator account on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to incorrect privilege assignment. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging in to the system with a crafted Active Directory account. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain root privileges on an affected device.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management), CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-27122?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Identity Services Engine.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-27122?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-27122 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-27122 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-27122 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-2020-27122 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-27122 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine, published on 6 Nov 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-27122 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-2020-27122/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-27122/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-27122
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-27122
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-27122

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-27122/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.