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Fencer Vulns
medium 6.8

CVE-2025-20181 json

A vulnerability in Cisco IOS Software for Cisco Catalyst 2960X, 2960XR, 2960CX, and 3560CX Series Switches could allow an authenticated, lo…

published 2025-05-07 18 mo ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2025-13903

cvss
6.8
version 3.0, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 9%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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.

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
18 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.20% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 9% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.0 6.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • Cisco IOS

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-347 Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.