Auth bypass in Cisco iOS

CVE-2025-20164

A vulnerability in the Cisco Industrial Ethernet Switch Device Manager (DM) of Cisco IOS Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to elevate privileges. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of authorizations for authenticated users. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to elevate privileges to privilege level 15. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid credentials for a user account with privilege level 5 or higher. Read-only DM users are assigned privilege level 5.

Vulnerability class: Broken Access Control

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.3 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (23.4th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 23rd percentile — 23.4% 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-2025-20164: held from 0.003 to 0.003.

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

Affected products

  • Cisco iOS — versions 15.0(2)SE8, 15.0(2)EA, 15.0(2)EA1

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-20164?
CVE-2025-20164 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco iOS, classified under Missing Authorization. CVSS score: 8.3/10. Published 2025-05-07.
How severe is CVE-2025-20164?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.3 out of 10.