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CVE-2021-1594

Cisco Identity Services Engine Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

7.5 High

A vulnerability in the REST API of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to perform a command injection attack and elevate privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation for specific API endpoints. An attacker in a man-in-the-middle position could exploit this vulnerability by intercepting and modifying specific internode communications from one ISE persona to another ISE persona. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to run arbitrary commands with root privileges on the underlying operating system. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need to decrypt HTTPS traffic between two ISE personas that are located on separate nodes.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
Required

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

1.40%Up 0.5 points since Oct 7, 2021
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 7.5

Cisco Identity Services Engine Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the REST API of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to perform a command injection attack and elevate privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation for specific API endpoints. An attacker in a man-in-the-middle position could exploit this vulnerability by intercepting and modifying specific internode communications from one ISE persona to another ISE persona. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to run arbitrary commands with root privileges on the underlying operating system. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need to decrypt HTTPS traffic between two ISE personas that are located on separate nodes.

Record
CVE-2021-1594
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-266
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-7061 7.5

A vulnerability in the REST API of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to perform a command injection attack and elevate privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation for specific API endpoints. An attacker in a man-in-the-middle position could exploit this vulnerability by intercepting and modifying specific internode communications from one ISE persona to another ISE persona. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to run arbitrary commands with root privileges on the underlying operating system. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need to decrypt HTTPS traffic between two ISE personas that are located on separate nodes.

Record
EUVD-2021-7061
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated
2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-8rx9-j5hq-fx8v 8.1

A vulnerability in the REST API of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an...

A vulnerability in the REST API of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to perform a command injection attack and elevate privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation for specific API endpoints. An attacker in a man-in-the-middle position could exploit this vulnerability by intercepting and modifying specific internode communications from one ISE persona to another ISE persona. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to run arbitrary commands with root privileges on the underlying operating system. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need to decrypt HTTPS traffic between two ISE personas that are located on separate nodes.

Record
GHSA-8rx9-j5hq-fx8v
CVSS 3.1
8.1 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-77, CWE-78, CWE-266
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 7.5

A vulnerability in the REST API of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to perform a command injection attack and elevate privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation for specific API endpoints. An attacker in a man-in-the-middle position could exploit this vulnerability by intercepting and modifying specific internode communications from one ISE persona to another ISE persona. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to run arbitrary commands with root privileges on the underlying operating system. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need to decrypt HTTPS traffic between two ISE personas that are located on separate nodes.

Record
CVE-2021-1594
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 3.1
8.1 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.0
9.3 HighAV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Weakness
CWE-266, CWE-78
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
aliases, publishedEUVD
first indexedCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2021-1594 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in Cisco Identity Services Engine, published October 6, 2021. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.40%, the 72nd percentile. No source names a fixed version.

References

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