VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2025-20155

A vulnerability in the bootstrap loading of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to write arbitrary files to an affected system.

MEDIUM 6.0EPSS 0.17%

Does this matter?

Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.17%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.

Description

A vulnerability in the bootstrap loading of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to write arbitrary files to an affected system. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of the bootstrap file that is read by the system software when a device is first deployed in SD-WAN mode or when an administrator configures SD-Routing on the device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by modifying a bootstrap file generated by Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager, loading it into the device flash, and then either reloading the device in a green field deployment in SD-WAN mode or configuring the device with SD-Routing. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to perform arbitrary file writes to the underlying operating system.

CVSS 3.1: 6.0 MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS: 0.17% probability · 6th percentile
CISA KEV: Not listed
Weakness: CWE-1287
Affected: cisco/ios xe
Source: psirt@cisco.com

References

https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-bootstrap-KfgxYgdhVendor Advisory

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.