# CVE-2026-20282: Cisco Identity Services Engine Authenticated Write Vulnerability

> An authenticated attacker with admin credentials can exploit insufficient input validation to gain root access on Cisco ISE devices.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 16 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 22 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-pfwv-v5q9-qwh6

## What is CVE-2026-20282?

CVE-2026-20282 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine Software, published on 16 Sep 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in Cisco ISE could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to obtain write access on the underlying operating system of an affected device.

This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain write access to the underlying operating system.
To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid administrative credentials.
Note: For CVE-2026-20282, Cisco has assigned a Security Impact Rating (SIR) of High rather than Medium as the score indicates. The reason is that it is easy to get to root from the achieved privilege level.

Weakness: CWE-641 (Improper Restriction of Names for Files and Other Resources)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-20282?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-20282?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-20282 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-20282 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-20282 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-20282 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-20282 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine Software, published on 16 Sep 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-20282 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Identity Services Engine Software. 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-2026-20282/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20282/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-20282
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-20282
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-20282

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20282/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.