Ios Xe
CVE-2025-20338
MEDIUM
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2021 - Vulnerable and Outdated Components
ASVS 5.0
V14 - Configuration Dependency management, component inventory
|
| Impact | CVSS score of 6.0 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: local attack vector, low complexity, high privileges required, no user interaction not required. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.01%. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | Successful exploitation could compromise the medium-severity affected system. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Mar 28, 2026
A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker with administrative privileges to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying operating. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.0), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Apply vendor patches when available. Implement network segmentation and monitoring as interim mitigations.
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Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified under CWE-141. A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker with administrative privileges to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying operating system of an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user arguments that are passed to specific CLI commands. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging in to the device CLI with valid administrative (level 15) credentials and using crafted commands at the CLI prompt. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root. Affected products include: Cisco Ios Xe.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionNVD
A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker with administrative privileges to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying operating system of an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user arguments that are passed to specific CLI commands. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging in to the device CLI with valid administrative (level 15) credentials and using crafted commands at the CLI prompt. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root.
Executive ViewAI
CVE-2025-20338 presents moderate security risk rated CVSS 6.0. Exploitation could compromise the security of affected deployments. Organizations should apply vendor updates when available and monitor for exploitation.
Apply vendor patch. If patching is delayed: restrict network access and enable monitoring.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
VulDB
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
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A vulnerability in the SNMP implementation of could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to cause a reload of the aff
A vulnerability in the SNMP implementation of could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to cause a reload of the aff
A vulnerability in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) subsystem of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Softwa
Cisco is providing an update for the ongoing investigation into observed exploitation of the web UI feature in Cisco IOS
A vulnerability in the Out-of-Band Access Point (AP) Image Download, the Clean Air Spectral Recording, and the client de
A vulnerability in the web UI feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to inject c
A vulnerability in the REST API of the web-based user interface (web UI) of Cisco IOS XE 3.1 through 16.5 could allow an
Multiple vulnerabilities in the Cisco IOx application hosting environment on multiple Cisco platforms could allow an att
Multiple vulnerabilities in the Cisco IOx application hosting environment on multiple Cisco platforms could allow an att
Multiple vulnerabilities in the Cisco IOx application hosting environment on multiple Cisco platforms could allow an att
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB