Vulnerability in Cisco iOS Xr Software

CVE-2025-20159

A vulnerability in the management interface access control list (ACL) processing feature in Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass configured ACLs for the SSH, NetConf, and gRPC features. This vulnerability exists because management interface ACLs have not been supported on Cisco IOS XR Software Packet I/O infrastructure platforms for Linux-handled features such as SSH, NetConf, or gRPC. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by attempting to send traffic to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass an ingress ACL that is applied on the management interface of the affected device.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.3 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (22.0th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 22nd percentile — 22.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2025-20159: held from 0.003 to 0.003.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.003 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-20159?
CVE-2025-20159 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco iOS Xr Software, classified under Improper Access Control. CVSS score: 5.3/10. Published 2025-09-10.
How severe is CVE-2025-20159?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.3 out of 10.
Is CVE-2025-20159 known to be exploited?
1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.