CVE-2026-1281
Published: 29 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-1281 is a critical-severity Code Injection (CWE-94) vulnerability in Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 0.8% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Requires timely flaw remediation, including applying vendor patches for CVE-2026-1281, to eliminate the code injection vulnerability enabling unauthenticated RCE.
Mandates information input validation to directly counter code injection (CWE-94) in Ivanti EPMM by sanitizing untrusted inputs and preventing malicious code execution.
Enforces boundary protection to monitor and filter remote network traffic, mitigating unauthenticated remote exploitation attempts on vulnerable EPMM instances.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Unauthenticated remote code execution via code injection in a public-facing Ivanti EPMM server directly enables T1190: Exploit Public-Facing Application.
NVD Description
A code injection in Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile allowing attackers to achieve unauthenticated remote code execution.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2026-1281 is a code injection vulnerability (CWE-94) affecting Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile (EPMM). Published on 2026-01-29, it enables unauthenticated remote code execution on vulnerable instances. The flaw carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), marking it as critical due to its high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Attackers require no authentication or privileges and can exploit the vulnerability remotely over the network with low complexity and no user interaction. Successful exploitation allows arbitrary code execution on the affected EPMM server, potentially leading to full system compromise.
Ivanti has issued a security advisory covering CVE-2026-1281 and CVE-2026-1340, which likely details patches and mitigations. The vulnerability appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, urging organizations, particularly federal agencies, to apply updates promptly.
CISA's inclusion signals real-world exploitation, emphasizing the need for immediate patching in environments running Ivanti EPMM.
Details
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 29 January 2026