Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Cisco ISE had a privilege-assignment flaw in its Microsoft Active Directory integration. A person who already has a valid administrator account on an affected device could log in with a crafted AD account and gain root privileges. This is not a remote drive-by issue, but it is serious for identity infrastructure.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate-priority infrastructure issue. Schedule remediation through normal patch governance, but accelerate if Cisco ISE administrator credentials may be compromised or if AD integration is broadly delegated.
Technical view
CVE-2020-27122 is a CWE-266 incorrect privilege assignment issue in Cisco Identity Services Engine Software. The CVSS 3.0 score is 4.4, with local attack vector and high privileges required. Successful exploitation can grant root privileges, with integrity impact rated high and no stated confidentiality or availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to Cisco ISE deployments affected by this advisory, especially those using Microsoft Active Directory integration. The bundle does not include exact affected or fixed versions, so teams must verify applicability against Cisco’s advisory and their installed ISE releases.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or other evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation requires a valid administrator account on the affected device and a crafted Active Directory account, making insider misuse or post-compromise escalation the main concern.
Researcher notes
The bundle lacks affected version ranges, fixed versions, and detailed Cisco mitigation text. Do not assume exploitation in the wild. Focus validation on Cisco ISE AD integration, administrator account scope, and privilege assignment behavior in authorized environments only.
Mitigation direction
- Review Cisco’s advisory for affected and fixed ISE releases.
- Upgrade or patch Cisco ISE according to Cisco guidance.
- Restrict and audit Cisco ISE administrator accounts.
- Review Active Directory accounts used with ISE integration.
- Investigate any unexpected root-level activity on ISE appliances.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Cisco ISE versions and AD integration status.
- Compare deployed versions against Cisco’s advisory.
- Review administrator account membership and recent login activity.
- Confirm ISE admin roles are assigned as intended.
- Check change logs for unexpected privilege or configuration changes.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-266: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2020-27122 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 4.4 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N0.83.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
4.4MediumVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20201104 Cisco Identity Services Engine Privilege Escalation VulnerabilityCVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_CISCO
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Incorrect Privilege Assignment
Incorrect Privilege Assignment represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.