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UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2025-20181

A vulnerability in Cisco IOS Software for Cisco Catalyst 2960X, 2960XR, 2960CX, and 3560CX Series Switches could allow an authenticated, local attacker with privilege level 15 or an unauthenticated attacker with physical access to the device to execute…

MEDIUM 6.8EPSS 0.19%

Does this matter?

Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.19%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.

Description

A vulnerability in Cisco IOS Software for Cisco Catalyst 2960X, 2960XR, 2960CX, and 3560CX Series Switches could allow an authenticated, local attacker with privilege level 15 or an unauthenticated attacker with physical access to the device to execute persistent code at boot time and break the chain of trust. This vulnerability is due to missing signature verification for specific files that may be loaded during the device boot process. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by placing a crafted file into a specific location on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code at boot time. Because this allows the attacker to bypass a major security feature of the device, Cisco has raised the Security Impact Rating (SIR) of this advisory from Medium to High.

CVSS 3.0
6.8 MEDIUMCVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS
0.19% probability · 9th percentile
CISA KEV
Not listed
Weakness
CWE-347
Affected
cisco/ios
Source
psirt@cisco.com

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