Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-20202

Cisco Ios Xe 16.10.1 … 17.9.5f

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 0.0022 13th percentile
Risk Priority 52 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-20202 is a high-severity Buffer Access with Incorrect Length Value (CWE-805) 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 13th 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-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability in Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of access point (AP) Cisco…

more

Discovery Protocol (CDP) neighbor reports when they are processed by the wireless controller. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted CDP packet to an AP. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause an unexpected reload of the wireless controller that is managing the AP, resulting in a DoS condition that affects the wireless network.

CWE(s)
CWE-805NVD-CWE-noinfo

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-2025-20169Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2025-20175Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2025-20155Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2024-20313Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2025-20174Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2024-20306Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2026-20270Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2025-20170Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2018-0151Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2026-20268Same product: Cisco Ios Xe

Affected Assets

cisco
ios xe
16.10.1, 16.10.1a, 16.10.1b, 16.10.1c, 16.10.1d

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)
  • V1.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation (including fuzzing and static analysis) directly finds incorrect length values used in sequential buffer accesses.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Secure engineering principles require explicit bounds checking and correct length calculations when performing buffer operations.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match

Input validation rejects or corrects malformed length values supplied from external sources before they reach buffer operations.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory protection mechanisms limit the blast radius when an incorrect length value causes an out-of-bounds access.

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 incorrect-length buffer operations via safe APIs, reviews, and testing.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification can discover buffer-length flaws but does not prevent their introduction.

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 out-of-bounds accesses, but does not guarantee prevention.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates buffer-safety practices that directly prevent incorrect length values.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify buffer-size validation, but do not prescribe implementation details.

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

Secure architecture principles encourage bounds-checked APIs, yet leave concrete coding decisions to developers.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding explicitly requires correct buffer-length handling, eliminating CWE-805 when followed.

References