# CVE-2020-3525: Cisco Identity Services Engine Password Disclosure to an Unauthorized Actor Vulnerability

> An authenticated attacker can recover service account passwords from the Cisco ISE Admin portal, potentially leading to further account compromise.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.3 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N/E:X/RL:X/RC:X`)
- **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:** 18 Nov 2024
- **Updated:** 18 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9m4j-24c8-q3mj

## What is CVE-2020-3525?

CVE-2020-3525 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine, published on 18 Nov 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the Admin portal of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to recover service account passwords that are saved on an affected system.
The vulnerability is due to the incorrect inclusion of saved passwords when loading configuration pages in the Admin portal. An attacker with read or write access to the Admin portal could exploit this vulnerability by browsing to a page that contains sensitive data. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to recover passwords and expose those accounts to further attack.Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-3525?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Identity Services Engine.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-3525?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-3525 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-3525 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-3525 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-2020-3525 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-3525 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine, published on 18 Nov 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-3525 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-2020-3525/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3525/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-3525
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-3525
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-3525

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3525/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.