Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-20189

Cisco Ios Xe 16.1.1 … 3.18.9sp

Published
07 May 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0024 15th percentile
Risk Priority 53 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-20189 is a high-severity Mismatched Memory Management Routines (CWE-762) vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe. Its CVSS base score is 7.4 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 15th 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 SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability in the Cisco Express Forwarding functionality of Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco ASR 903 Aggregation Services Routers with Route Switch Processor 3 (RSP3C) could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to trigger a denial of service (DoS) condition.…

more

This vulnerability is due to improper memory management when Cisco IOS XE Software is processing Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) messages. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted ARP messages at a high rate over a period of time to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust system resources, which eventually triggers a reload of the active route switch processor (RSP). If a redundant RSP is not present, the router reloads.

CWE(s)
CWE-762

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-2025-20155Same 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-2024-20307Same product: Cisco Ios Xe

Affected Assets

cisco
ios xe
16.1.1, 16.1.2, 16.1.3, 16.10.1, 16.10.1a

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover mismatched memory calls through static analysis, dynamic testing, or fuzzing.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Documented development standards and tools can enforce or check for correct pairing of allocators and deallocators.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles can mandate consistent use of matching allocation and deallocation routines during design and implementation.

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 prevent mismatched alloc/free via code review and static analysis, but fixing this single CWE only partially fulfills the broad control.

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 in development can detect mismatched alloc/free pairs before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates consistent allocation/deallocation patterns that prevent mismatched memory routines.

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

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require use of matching allocators and deallocators.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly prohibit mismatched memory-management calls and enforce safe patterns.

References