Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-20194

Command Injection in Cisco Ios Xe 17.10.1 … 17.9.6a

Command Injection
Published
07 May 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0031 23th percentile
Risk Priority 43 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-20194 is a medium-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe. Its CVSS base score is 5.4 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked at the 23th 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, low-privileged, remote attacker to perform an injection attack against an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation. An attacker could exploit…

more

this vulnerability by sending crafted input to the web-based management interface. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to read limited files from the underlying operating system or clear the syslog and licensing logs on the affected device.

CWE(s)
CWE-78

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse the Windows command shell for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
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 →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-20186Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2025-20193Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2024-20278Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2024-20313Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2023-20072Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2024-20306Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2018-0151Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2023-20082Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2023-20056Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2023-20273Same product: Cisco Ios Xe

Affected Assets

cisco
ios xe
17.10.1, 17.10.1a, 17.10.1b, 17.11.1, 17.11.1a

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)
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8
  • V15.2.5

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect command sanitization during development.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Input validation directly neutralizes or rejects special characters that would otherwise alter OS command structure.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match

Least privilege reduces the permissions available to any process that could be subverted by injected commands.

CM-7 Least Functionality partial match

Least functionality restricts available OS commands and interpreters, limiting the blast radius of injection.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Secure engineering principles require proper neutralization of untrusted input before command construction.

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

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).

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 and code review target insecure use of operating-system command interfaces, catching command-injection flaws introduced during development.

References