---
title: "CVE-2026-20306: Cisco ISE - Command Injection & Privilege Escalation"
description: "Cisco ISE and ISE-PIC contain a command injection caused by improper validation of user-supplied input in the REST API, letting authenticated remote attackers execute arbitrary code and escalate privileges to root, exploit requires valid administrative credentials."
url: https://panop.io/threat-heartbeat/CVE-2026-20306/
---

# CVE-2026-20306 Cisco ISE - Command Injection & Privilege Escalation

Cisco ISE and ISE-PIC contain a command injection caused by improper validation of user-supplied input in the REST API, letting authenticated remote attackers execute arbitrary code and escalate privileges to root, exploit requires valid administrative credentials.

CVSS base score 9.1 /10

Critical

CISA KEV

Not listed

Public exploit

None known

Authentication

Required

EPSS

1.37% chance of exploitation in 30 days

[View the NVD record ↗](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-20306)

## Details

Type

Command Injection

Impact

Remote Code Execution, Privilege Escalation, Denial Of Service

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Published

16 September 2026

Updated

15 October 2026

Weakness

[CWE-78](https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/78.html)

## Vendor fix

Update to the latest available version with the fix applied.

Patching closes this CVE. It does not tell you which of your systems run the affected version, or what else is exposed alongside them.

## References

- [https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-20306](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-20306)
- [https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-cmd-inj-e2CuZCYZ](https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-cmd-inj-e2CuZCYZ)

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## What this record can't tell you

- Whether you run the affected software, and where
- Whether an attacker can actually reach and exploit it
- The misconfigurations that never get a CVE number
- What it would cost the business, ranked into what to fix first

Panop answers these inside your environment, for this CVE and every other finding.

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