CVE-2025-20313
MediumCVSS 6.7Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk9th percentile - higher than 9% of all known CVEs
Summary
Multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco IOS XE Software due to path traversal and improper image integrity validation could allow an authenticated local attacker with level-15 privileges or an unauthenticated attacker with physical access to execute persistent code at boot time and break the chain of trust.
Risk Assessment
An attacker can install persistent code on the underlying operating system, bypassing major security features of the device. This may lead to full compromise of the device and network.
Recommendation
Apply Cisco updates for IOS XE Software that fix these vulnerabilities. Restrict physical access to devices and follow the principle of least privilege.
Other vulnerabilities in Cisco IOS XE Software
See all- CVE-2026-20272Critical
As part of an internal security review in Cisco IOS XE Software, multiple vulnerabilities related to improper neutralization of special elements (CWE-74) were discovered. Hardened software releases addressing these issues have been issued.
- CVE-2026-20267Critical
As part of an internal security review in Cisco IOS XE Software, multiple vulnerabilities related to improper access control (CWE-284) were discovered. Hardened software releases addressing these issues have been issued.
- CVE-2023-20273HighActively exploited
A vulnerability in the web UI feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to inject commands with the privileges of root. This is due to insufficient input validation.
- CVE-2023-20198CriticalActively exploited
Cisco is providing an update for the ongoing investigation into observed exploitation of the web UI feature in Cisco IOS XE Software. The attacker exploited CVE-2023-20198 to gain initial access and issued a privilege 15 command to create a local user, then exploited another component (CVE-2023-20273) to elevate privilege to root and write an implant. CVE-2023-20198 has a CVSS score of 10.0, CVE-2023-20273 has a CVSS score of 7.2.
- CVE-2017-12319MediumActively exploited
A vulnerability in the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) over an Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN) for Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition, or potentially corrupt the BGP routing table, which could result in network instability. The vulnerability exists due to changes in the implementation of the BGP MPLS-Based Ethernet VPN RFC (RFC 7432) draft between IOS XE software releases. When the BGP Inclusive Multicast Ethernet Tag Route or BGP EVPN MAC/IP Advertisement Route update packet is received, it could be possible that the IP address length field is miscalculated. This vulnerability affects all releases of Cisco IOS XE Software prior to software release 16.3 that support BGP EVPN configurations.
- CVE-2017-12229Critical
A vulnerability in the web-based user interface (web UI) of Cisco IOS XE 3.1 through 16.5 allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to bypass authentication to the REST API. The issue is due to insufficient input validation for the REST API.
- CVE-2026-20311Medium
A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker with low privileges to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This is due to insufficient error handling in the web-based management interface. An attacker could exploit this by authenticating with a malformed certificate, potentially causing the device to reload.
- CVE-2026-20308Medium
A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco IOS XE Software allows an authenticated remote attacker with low privileges to perform a DoS attack. The issue is due to insufficient input validation, and exploitation can make the interface unresponsive.
- CVE-2026-20273High
A vulnerability in Cisco IOS XE Software related to improper input validation (CWE-20), discovered during an internal security review. It is addressed in a software hardening release.
- CVE-2026-20271High
A vulnerability in Cisco IOS XE Software related to insufficient control flow management (CWE-691), discovered during an internal security review. It is addressed in software hardening releases.
Original NVD description (English source)
Multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco IOS XE Software of could allow an authenticated, local attacker with level-15 privileges or an unauthenticated attacker with physical access to the device to execute persistent code at boot time and break the chain of trust. These vulnerabilities are due path traversal and improper image integrity validation. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute persistent code on the underlying operating system. Because this allows the attacker to bypass a major security feature of the device, Cisco has raised the Security Impact Rating (SIR) of this advisory from Medium to High. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details ["#details"] section of this advisory. ERP
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS