CVE-2025-20124

This vulnerability is classified as Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502), which allows attackers to execute arbitrary code through malicious serialized objects. A vulnerability in an API of Cisco ISE could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands as the root user on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insecure deserialization of user-supplied Java byte streams by the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted serialized Java object to an affected API. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the device and elevate privileges. Note: To successfully exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid read-only administrative credentials. In a single-node deployment, new devices will not be able to authenticate during the reload time. Affected products include: Cisco Identity Services Engine.