Overview
The cybersecurity landscape is faced with a new threat, as identified by the vulnerability CVE-2025-20337. This vulnerability affects a specific API of both the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and the Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC). The impact of this vulnerability is severe, as it grants an unauthenticated, remote attacker the ability to execute arbitrary code on the underlying operating system as root. This could potentially result in system compromise or data leakage, marking its critical significance in the cybersecurity arena.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-20337
Severity: Critical (CVSS 10.0)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Execution of arbitrary code with root privileges, potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Cisco ISE | All versions before the security patch
Cisco ISE-PIC | All versions before the security patch
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability results from insufficient validation of user-supplied inputs in a specific Cisco ISE and ISE-PIC API. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted API request to the affected product. This malicious request, once processed by the vulnerable API, could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code with root privileges on the underlying operating system.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual HTTP request that an attacker might use to exploit this vulnerability:
POST /vulnerable/api/endpoint HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "malicious_payload": "arbitrary_code_to_be_executed_as_root" }In this hypothetical example, an attacker sends a POST request to the vulnerable API endpoint with a JSON payload containing arbitrary code meant to be executed as root.
Mitigation Guidance
Users of the affected products are strongly advised to apply the vendor-supplied patch as soon as possible to mitigate the vulnerability. As a temporary measure, users can also utilize a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to monitor and block potential exploit attempts. However, this should not replace the need for applying the official patch, as these measures may not provide complete protection against this vulnerability.