What is CVE-2026-20146?
A vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform path traversal attacks on the underlying operating system to either read or delete arbitrary files. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid administrative credentials. This vulnerability is due to improper validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to access sensitive files or delete arbitrary files on the affected system.
The record classifies CVE-2026-20146 under weakness class CWE-22. Its CVSS v3 base vector states that the flaw is reachable remotely over the network, needs high-privilege credentials, needs no user interaction, and has high impact on confidentiality. 2 affected-product entries are recorded, across 1 vendor, listed below. The identifier was first published 82 days ago.
Severity and exploitation probability
- CVSS v3.1 base score
- 5.5 — MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N - EPSS (FIRST)
- 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 26.2% of all scored CVEs
- CISA KEV
- Not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
- Threadlinqs priority
- 3.8/10 — a Threadlinqs composite of the CVSS base score, the EPSS percentile and public exploit availability
- Published
- 2026-07-15
Is CVE-2026-20146 being exploited?
No public exploitation evidence for CVE-2026-20146 is recorded in the sources Threadlinqs tracks — CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, public proof-of-concept repositories and ProjectDiscovery Nuclei — as of 2026-07-15. That is an absence of evidence in those feeds, not a guarantee that the vulnerability is unexploited.
Affected products and versions
- Cisco: Identity Services Engine Software, ISE Passive Identity Connector
How to fix CVE-2026-20146
Vendor advisory: https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-traversal-xNt7wb2Y. Apply the vendor fix referenced above to every affected product listed in this record, then confirm the running version against the vendor advisory.
Threat activity tracking CVE-2026-20146
1 tracked threat in the Threadlinqs corpus references CVE-2026-20146, either in the campaign’s CVE list or as an indicator on the campaign record.
Sources
Enriched from CVE.org, NVD, FIRST EPSS, GitHub Security Advisories. Last verified by Threadlinqs on . This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.