Cisco IOS/IOS XE SNMP Subsystem denial of service

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Cisco IOS and IOS XE. The affected element is an unknown function of the component SNMP Subsystem. This manipulation causes denial of service. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-20175. The attack can be initiated remotely. There is not any exploit available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Cisco IOS and IOS XE (affected version not known). Affected by this vulnerability is some unknown functionality of the component SNMP Subsystem. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a denial of service vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-404. The product does not release or incorrectly releases a resource before it is made available for re-use. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

A vulnerability in the SNMP subsystem of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to cause a DoS condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to improper error handling when parsing SNMP requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted SNMP request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to reload unexpectedly, resulting in a DoS condition.  This vulnerability affects SNMP versions 1, 2c, and 3. To exploit this vulnerability through SNMP v2c or earlier, the attacker must know a valid read-write or read-only SNMP community string for the affected system. To exploit this vulnerability through SNMP v3, the attacker must have valid SNMP user credentials for the affected system.

It is possible to read the advisory at sec.cloudapps.cisco.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-20175 since 10/10/2024. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1499 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 215126 (Cisco IOS Software SNMP DoS (cisco-sa-snmp-dos-sdxnSUcW)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (215126). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Router Operating System

Vendor

• Cisco

Name

• IOS
• IOS XE

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.cisco.com/

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Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

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