# CVE-2026-76434: Cisco Identity Services Engine Arbitrary File Read Vulnerability

> An authenticated attacker with admin credentials can read arbitrary files from Cisco ISE via the certificate import feature.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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:** 17 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2whp-8f85-4cqh

## What is CVE-2026-76434?

CVE-2026-76434 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine, published on 16 Sep 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the certificate import functionality of the web-based management interface of Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to read arbitrary files from the affected system. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid administrative credentials.

This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input by the affected feature. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted request to the web-based management interface of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to read arbitrary files from the affected device, which could contain sensitive information.

Weakness: CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-76434?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Cisco Identity Services Engine, Cisco Identity Services Engine Passive Identity Connector.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-76434?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-76434 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-76434 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-76434 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-2026-76434 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-76434 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine, 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-2026-76434 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-2026-76434/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76434/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-76434
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-76434
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-76434

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76434/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.