What is the CVSS score of CVE-2025-20162?

CVE-2025-20162 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.6 (High). CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.5%.

Which versions of Ios Xe are affected by CVE-2025-20162?

CVE-2025-20162 presents significant security risk, a resource exhaustion vulnerability rated CVSS 8.6.

How to fix or mitigate CVE-2025-20162?

Within 7 days: Identify all affected systems and apply vendor patches promptly. Monitor vendor channels for patch availability.

Ios Xe CVE-2025-20162

HIGH

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400)

2025-05-07 psirt@cisco.com

Denial Of Service Apple Cisco Ios Xe

8.6

CVSS 3.1 · NVD

Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY

8.6 HIGH

AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Lifecycle Timeline

Analysis Generated

Mar 28, 2026 - 18:40 vuln.today

CVE Published

May 07, 2025 - 18:15 nvd

HIGH 8.6

DescriptionCVE.org

A vulnerability in the DHCP snooping security feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a full interface queue wedge, which could result in a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to improper handling of DHCP request packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending DHCP request packets to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause packets to wedge in the queue, creating a DoS condition for downstream devices of the affected system and requiring that the system restart to drain the queue. Note: This vulnerability can be exploited with either unicast or broadcast DHCP packets on a VLAN that does not have DHCP snooping enabled.

AnalysisAI

A vulnerability in the DHCP snooping security feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a full interface queue wedge, which could result in a denial of. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.6), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.

Technical ContextAI

This vulnerability is classified as Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400), which allows attackers to cause denial of service by exhausting system resources. A vulnerability in the DHCP snooping security feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a full interface queue wedge, which could result in a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to improper handling of DHCP request packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending DHCP request packets to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause packets to wedge in the queue, creating a DoS condition for downstream devices of the affected system and requiring that the system restart to drain the queue. Note: This vulnerability can be exploited with either unicast or broadcast DHCP packets on a VLAN that does not have DHCP snooping enabled. Affected products include: Cisco Ios Xe.

RemediationAI

No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Implement rate limiting, set resource quotas, validate input sizes, use timeouts.