CVE-2025-20174
Published: 05 February 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-20174 is a high-severity Buffer Access with Incorrect Length Value (CWE-805) vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe. Its CVSS base score is 7.7 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked in the top 25.8% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-11 (Error Handling).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Applying vendor patches directly remediates the improper error handling vulnerability in the SNMP parsing code, preventing exploitation.
Mandates secure error handling that avoids exploitable conditions like device reloads from malformed SNMP requests.
Requires validation of SNMP request inputs to reject crafted packets that trigger the parsing flaw.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Direct exploitation of SNMP parsing flaw in network device to trigger system reload and DoS.
NVD Description
A vulnerability in the SNMP subsystem of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to cause a DoS condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to improper error handling when parsing…
more
SNMP requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted SNMP request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to reload unexpectedly, resulting in a DoS condition. This vulnerability affects SNMP versions 1, 2c, and 3. To exploit this vulnerability through SNMP v2c or earlier, the attacker must know a valid read-write or read-only SNMP community string for the affected system. To exploit this vulnerability through SNMP v3, the attacker must have valid SNMP user credentials for the affected system.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-20174 is a vulnerability in the SNMP subsystem of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software that stems from improper error handling when parsing SNMP requests. This flaw affects SNMP versions 1, 2c, and 3, enabling an authenticated, remote attacker to trigger a denial-of-service (DoS) condition by sending a crafted SNMP request to an affected device. Successful exploitation causes the device to reload unexpectedly, disrupting network operations. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.7 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H) and is associated with CWE-805.
An authenticated remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability if they possess the necessary SNMP access credentials. For SNMP v2c or earlier versions, the attacker requires a valid read-write or read-only SNMP community string for the affected system. For SNMP v3, valid SNMP user credentials are needed. Once authenticated, the attacker sends a specially crafted SNMP request, leading to improper error handling that forces the device to reload and results in a DoS condition with high availability impact due to the scoped attack vector.
The Cisco Security Advisory provides detailed information on mitigation strategies and available patches for this vulnerability, accessible at https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-snmp-dos-sdxnSUcW.
Details
- CWE(s)