Exploited CVEs / Cisco / CVE-2025-20281
CVE-2025-20281
Cisco Identity Services Engine Injection Vulnerability. Exploitation in the wild is confirmed by CISA, not predicted. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2025-08-18 (that deadline has passed); treat that date as the outer bound for your own environment. The fix is in the vendor advisory: Cisco Security Advisories (PSIRT), linked below.
Actively exploited Cisco Identity Services Engine vulnerability, Critical severity, CVSS 10.0. Added to the CISA KEV catalog 2025-07-28.
Risk summary
Updated July 27, 2026. Data refreshed on every build from MSRC, CISA KEV, and FIRST EPSS.
Senserva AI Opinion for CVE-2025-20281
This is an unauthenticated injection flaw in a specific API of Cisco Identity Services Engine and ISE-PIC, carrying a maximum Severity Critical rating of CVSS 10.0 with a 97 percent EPSS exploit probability. Because ISE is the policy and authentication backbone controlling network access, any organization running it is exposed to root-level compromise via a single crafted API request, and CISA confirmed active exploitation on 2025-07-28.
Do this: Apply Cisco's fixed ISE and ISE-PIC release immediately and audit API access logs for crafted requests indicating prior exploitation.
AI-generated from public data, 2026-07-21. Verify against the vendor advisory before acting.
Senserva AI Opinion and rich prompt for CVE-2025-20281
Copy this prompt into Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot. The facts are included, sourced from this page.
Full tracking and change history for CVE-2025-20281
Published and last-revised dates are authoritative, from Microsoft MSRC (or the CISA KEV date-added). Senserva additionally records day-to-day changes from 2026-07-07, refreshed several times a day; the change count reflects that forward-only tracking.
CISA required action
Federal (BOD 22-01) remediation due date: 2025-08-18 (past due).
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Official fix for CVE-2025-20281
The authoritative fix and affected-version list are published by the vendor. Find the Identity Services Engine advisory on Cisco Security Advisories (PSIRT).
Common questions about CVE-2025-20281
Is CVE-2025-20281 actively exploited?
Yes. CVE-2025-20281 was added to the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2025-07-28, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed, not predicted. Its EPSS 30-day exploitation probability is 97%.
What is the CISA deadline and required action for CVE-2025-20281?
CISA set the federal (BOD 22-01) remediation due date at 2025-08-18, which has passed; treat any unremediated system as overdue. The verbatim required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
What fixes CVE-2025-20281?
The authoritative fix is in the vendor advisory: see Cisco Security Advisories (PSIRT) for the patched Identity Services Engine versions and any workarounds. KEV listing makes this a fix-first item: patch it ahead of higher-CVSS issues nobody is exploiting.
Can I ask my own AI about CVE-2025-20281?
Yes. This page includes a free, ready-to-paste AI prompt containing CVE-2025-20281's key facts: severity, CVSS, EPSS, the KEV date, the CISA due date, and the required action. Copy it into Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot; the data is refreshed twice a day (5 AM and 3 PM US Central).
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