Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-20155

Cisco Ios Xe 17.11.99sw … 17.9.6a

Published
07 May 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.0
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0017 6th percentile
Risk Priority 43 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-20155 is a medium-severity Improper Validation of Specified Type of Input (CWE-1287) vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe. Its CVSS base score is 6.0 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability in the bootstrap loading of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to write arbitrary files to an affected system. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of the bootstrap file that is read…

more

by the system software when a device is first deployed in SD-WAN mode or when an administrator configures SD-Routing on the device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by modifying a bootstrap file generated by Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, loading it into the device flash, and then either reloading the device in a green field deployment in SD-WAN mode or configuring the device with SD-Routing. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to perform arbitrary file writes to the underlying operating system.

CWE(s)
CWE-1287

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-20202Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2024-20313Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2024-20306Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2026-20270Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2018-0151Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2026-20268Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2024-20434Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2024-20464Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2023-20072Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2025-20197Same product: Cisco Ios Xe

Affected Assets

cisco
ios xe
17.11.99sw, 17.12.1, 17.12.1a, 17.12.1w, 17.12.1x

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.1.1
  • V1.4.2
  • V2.1.1
  • V2.2.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

SI-10 directly requires validation of information inputs, which structurally prevents type-validation failures from being introduced or exploitable.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require proper input type validation during development.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing can detect type-validation flaws but does not prevent them during development.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates input validation and type checking to prevent improper type handling.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements explicitly include validation of input data types and formats.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles promote defensive input handling and type enforcement at system boundaries.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly require proper type validation of all external inputs.

References