Deserialization in Cisco Identity Services Engine Software

CVE-2026-20307

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco ISE could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system of an affected device. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have at least low-privileged administrative credentials. This vulnerability is due to insecure deserialization of a user-supplied Java byte stream. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted serialized Java object to the web-based management interface of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the device and elevate privileges to root. In single-node deployments, successful exploitation of this vulnerability could cause the affected ISE node to become unavailable, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. In that condition, endpoints that have not already authenticated would be unable to access the network until the node is restored.

Vulnerability class: Insecure Deserialization

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.9 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-20307?
CVE-2026-20307 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine Software, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 9.9/10. Published 2026-09-16.
How severe is CVE-2026-20307?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.9 out of 10.