So here’s one that just dropped and caught my eye—CVE-2025-20125—a juicy vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) that basically flips “read-only” access on its head. Yeah, we’re talking about an API flaw that lets an attacker do way more than they should, even if they only got read-only creds.

What’s the Juice?
Cisco ISE uses APIs to let admins interact with the system, right? But this one endpoint slipped up—no proper authorization checks and sloppy input validation. So with just valid read-only admin credentials, an attacker can:• Pull sensitive info. • Change node configs. • Restart the whole damn node.

Basically, it’s like giving someone a library card and they end up rewiring the power grid.

How the Exploit Goes Down:1. You get valid read-only admin creds (phishing, creds dump, or internal leak). 2. Craft a special HTTP request aimed at the broken API. 3. Boom—you get access to sensitive config, can mess with node settings, and even reload the device.

Now picture this on a single-node deployment: restarting the node means no new device authentication during that time. That’s a DoS-level side effect right there.

Who’s at Risk?
Cisco ISE versions up to (but excluding) 3.1, as well as 3.2 and 3.3, are affected. So if your org or target runs ISE for device identity and access management, you might already be in if creds are exposed.

Severity Level:
Cisco slapped it with a 9.1 CVSS score (Critical) if the attacker has low privileges. NVD tagged it as 7.2 (High) if the attacker has high privileges, but Cisco’s view is more aggressive—and I agree with them.

What’s the Patch Story?
Cisco pushed out fixes, so patching is the first move. But if you’re doing internal red teaming or bounty-style recon, check for old Cisco ISE deployments that ain’t patched yet—they’re low-hanging fruit.

Attack Surface Summary:• API-based entry • Requires valid creds (but they can be basic) • Remote exploitation • Impacts integrity, confidentiality, and availability

TL;DR for the Bounty Hunters:
If you sniff Cisco ISE on a target, grab any leaked or guessable creds and probe those APIs. This ain’t your usual read-only login—you can own the box from there if it’s vulnerable.

Cisco’s advisory here:
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ise-multivuls-FTW9AOXF

NVD listing for CVE-2025-20125:
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-20125