Identity Services Engine
CVE-2023-20174
MEDIUM
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A02:2025 - Security Misconfiguration
ASVS 5.0
V13 - Configuration XML external entity prevention
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Initial Access, Collection The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 4.9 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, high privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could read arbitrary files or perform SSRF through XML processing by sending crafted requests to the affected application. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
Multiple vulnerabilities in the web-based management interface of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to read arbitrary files or conduct a server-side. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Disable external entity processing in XML parsers, use JSON instead of XML where possible.
Affects your stack
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Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as XML External Entity (XXE) (CWE-611), which allows attackers to read arbitrary files or perform SSRF through XML processing. Multiple vulnerabilities in the web-based management interface of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to read arbitrary files or conduct a server-side request forgery (SSRF) attack through an affected device. To exploit these vulnerabilities, an attacker must have valid Administrator credentials on the affected device. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory. Affected products include: Cisco Identity Services Engine.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
Multiple vulnerabilities in the web-based management interface of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to read arbitrary files or conduct a server-side request forgery (SSRF) attack through an affected device. To exploit these vulnerabilities, an attacker must have valid Administrator credentials on the affected device. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Server-Side Request Forgery exploits applications that fetch remote resources based on user-supplied URLs.
XML External Entity (XXE) attacks exploit XML parsers that process Document Type Definitions (DTDs) without proper restrictions.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
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GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB