Vulnerability in Cisco iOS Xe Software

CVE-2025-20338

A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker with administrative privileges to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying operating system of an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user arguments that are passed to specific CLI commands. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging in to the device CLI with valid administrative (level 15) credentials and using crafted commands at the CLI prompt. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root.

EPSS: 0.002 (4.7th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.0 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2025-20338?
CVE-2025-20338 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco iOS Xe Software, classified under CWE-141. CVSS score: 6.0/10. Published 2025-09-24.
How severe is CVE-2025-20338?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.0 out of 10.