Cisco IOS XE up to 17.15.1w Cisco Discovery Protocol buffer access with incorrect length value

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.
CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
6.8$5k-$25k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Cisco IOS XE. This issue affects some unknown processing of the component Cisco Discovery Protocol. Such manipulation leads to buffer access with incorrect length value. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2025-20202. The attack requires being on the local network. There is not any exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Cisco IOS XE. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is an unknown function of the component Cisco Discovery Protocol. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a buffer access with incorrect length value vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-805. The product uses a sequential operation to read or write a buffer, but it uses an incorrect length value that causes it to access memory that is outside of the bounds of the buffer. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

A vulnerability in Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of access point (AP) Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) neighbor reports when they are processed by the wireless controller. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted CDP packet to an AP. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause an unexpected reload of the wireless controller that is managing the AP, resulting in a DoS condition that affects the wireless network.

The advisory is shared for download at sec.cloudapps.cisco.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-20202 since 10/10/2024. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack needs to approached within the local network. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $5k-$25k (estimation calculated on 05/07/2025).

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability.

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Vendor

Name

Version

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 6.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.8

VulDB Base Score: 6.5
VulDB Temp Score: 6.2
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CNA Base Score: 7.4
CNA Vector (cisco): 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Buffer access with incorrect length value
CWE: CWE-805 / CWE-120 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-DayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
TodayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Timelineinfo

10/10/2024 🔍
05/07/2025 +209 days 🔍
05/07/2025 +0 days 🔍
05/07/2025 +0 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: cisco.com

Advisory: cisco-sa-ewlc-cdp-dos-fpeks9K
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2025-20202 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2025-20202
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-307916
scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20150108

Entryinfo

Created: 05/07/2025 20:17
Changes: 05/07/2025 20:17 (64)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Discussion

No comments yet. Languages: en.

Please log in to comment.

◂ PreviousOverviewNext ▸

Want to know what is going to be exploited?

We predict KEV entries!