📄 Description (English)
A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) could allow an authenticated, local attacker with administrative privileges to perform a command injection attack on the underlying operating system and elevate privileges to root.
This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by providing crafted input to a specific CLI command. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to elevate their privileges to root on the underlying operating system.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
A command injection vulnerability in Cisco ISE and ISE-PIC CLI allows authenticated local administrators to execute arbitrary OS commands and escalate privileges to root. While requiring administrative access, this represents a critical insider threat vector for organizations relying on Cisco ISE for network access control. No patch is currently available, requiring immediate compensating controls.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: May 24, 2026 11:16
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
Critical impact for Saudi banking sector (SAMA-regulated institutions using Cisco ISE for network access control), government agencies (NCA, CITC infrastructure), healthcare organizations (MOH, private hospitals), and energy sector (ARAMCO, downstream operators). ISE is widely deployed in Saudi telecommunications (STC, Mobily, Zain) for network authentication. Privilege escalation to root compromises entire network access control infrastructure, potentially allowing lateral movement, data exfiltration, and network segmentation bypass. Insider threats from disgruntled administrators pose significant risk in Saudi organizations.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Banking and Financial Services
Government and Public Administration
Healthcare
Energy and Utilities
Telecommunications
Critical Infrastructure
🎯 MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
T1059 - Command and Scripting Interpreter
T1059.003 - Windows Command Shell
T1548 - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
T1548.004 - Elevated Execution with Prompt
T1134 - Access Token Manipulation
T1078 - Valid Accounts
T1078.002 - Domain Accounts
T1087 - Account Discovery
T1110 - Brute Force
T1098 - Account Manipulation
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
7.5
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS:
1. Restrict CLI access to ISE/ISE-PIC systems to only essential administrative personnel
2. Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all ISE administrative accounts
3. Enable comprehensive CLI command logging and audit trails with SIEM integration
4. Implement network segmentation to isolate ISE management interfaces
5. Disable unnecessary CLI commands and restrict command execution policies
COMPENSATING CONTROLS:
6. Deploy host-based intrusion detection on ISE servers to monitor for privilege escalation attempts
7. Implement file integrity monitoring (FIM) on ISE system binaries and configuration files
8. Use privileged access management (PAM) solutions to control and audit administrative access
9. Implement application whitelisting to prevent unauthorized command execution
10. Monitor for suspicious process execution patterns (child processes spawned from ISE CLI)
DETECTION RULES:
- Alert on any CLI commands containing shell metacharacters (|, ;, &, $, `, etc.)
- Monitor for privilege escalation attempts (sudo, su commands from ISE processes)
- Track failed authentication attempts to ISE administrative interfaces
- Alert on unexpected process spawning from ISE CLI processes
- Monitor for changes to system files or permissions from ISE service accounts
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. تقييد وصول CLI إلى أنظمة ISE/ISE-PIC للموظفين الإداريين الأساسيين فقط
2. تطبيق المصادقة متعددة العوامل (MFA) لجميع حسابات ISE الإدارية
3. تفعيل تسجيل أوامر CLI الشامل ومسارات التدقيق مع تكامل SIEM
4. تطبيق تقسيم الشبكة لعزل واجهات إدارة ISE
5. تعطيل أوامر CLI غير الضرورية وتقييد سياسات تنفيذ الأوامر
الضوابط التعويضية:
6. نشر كشف الاختراق على مستوى المضيف على خوادم ISE لمراقبة محاولات تصعيد الامتيازات
7. تطبيق مراقبة سلامة الملفات (FIM) على ملفات ISE الثنائية وملفات التكوين
8. استخدام حلول إدارة الوصول المميز (PAM) للتحكم في الوصول الإداري والتدقيق فيه
9. تطبيق القائمة البيضاء للتطبيقات لمنع تنفيذ الأوامر غير المصرح بها
10. مراقبة أنماط تنفيذ العمليات المريبة (العمليات الفرعية المنبثقة من ISE CLI)
قواعد الكشف:
- تنبيهات على أي أوامر CLI تحتوي على أحرف metacharacters (|، ;، &، $، `، إلخ)
- مراقبة محاولات تصعيد الامتيازات (أوامر sudo و su من عمليات ISE)
- تتبع محاولات المصادقة الفاشلة لواجهات ISE الإدارية
- تنبيهات على تنفيذ العمليات غير المتوقعة من عمليات ISE CLI
- مراقبة التغييرات على ملفات النظام أو الأذونات من حسابات خدمة ISE
📋 Regulatory Compliance Mapping
🟢 NCA ECC 2024
ECC 2024 A.5.1.1 - Access Control Policy
ECC 2024 A.5.2.1 - User Registration and De-registration
ECC 2024 A.5.3.1 - Access Rights Review
ECC 2024 A.8.1.1 - User Endpoint Devices
ECC 2024 A.8.2.1 - Privileged Access Rights
ECC 2024 A.8.3.1 - Restriction of Access to Information
ECC 2024 A.12.4.1 - Event Logging
ECC 2024 A.12.4.3 - Administrator and Operator Logs
🔵 SAMA CSF
SAMA CSF ID.AM-1 - Asset Management
SAMA CSF PR.AC-1 - Access Control Policy
SAMA CSF PR.AC-4 - Access Rights Management
SAMA CSF DE.AE-1 - Audit and Accountability
SAMA CSF DE.CM-1 - System Monitoring
SAMA CSF RS.AN-1 - Incident Analysis
🟡 ISO 27001:2022
ISO 27001:2022 A.5.2 - Information Security Policies
ISO 27001:2022 A.6.2 - Competence
ISO 27001:2022 A.8.1 - User Endpoint Devices
ISO 27001:2022 A.8.2 - Privileged Access Rights
ISO 27001:2022 A.8.3 - Information Access Restriction
ISO 27001:2022 A.8.4 - Access to Cryptographic Keys
ISO 27001:2022 A.12.4 - Logging
🟣 PCI DSS v4.0.1
PCI DSS 2.1 - Configuration Standards
PCI DSS 2.2.4 - Configure System Security Parameters
PCI DSS 7.1 - Limit Access to System Components
PCI DSS 8.1 - Assign Unique ID
PCI DSS 8.2 - Ensure User Identity is Verified
PCI DSS 10.2 - Implement Automated Audit Trails