# CVE-2025-20117: Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Authenticated Command Injection Vulnerability

> An authenticated local attacker with admin credentials can execute arbitrary root commands on Cisco APIC via insufficient CLI argument validation.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 26 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 27 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-fj42-7xm3-95v2

## What is CVE-2025-20117?

CVE-2025-20117 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC), published on 26 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco APIC could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying operating system of an affected device. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid administrative credentials.

This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of arguments that are passed to specific CLI commands. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by including crafted input as the argument of an affected CLI command. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system with the privileges of root.

Weakness: CWE-77 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-20117?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-20117?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-20117 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-20117 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-20117 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC)

- [CVE-2021-1393](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1393/): Cisco Application Services Engine Unauthorized Access Vulnerabilities (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-1396](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1396/): Cisco Application Services Engine Unauthorized Access Vulnerabilities (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-1577](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1577/): Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Arbitrary File Read and Write Vulnerability (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2023-20011](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20011/): Cross-site request forgery in Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2021-1578](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1578/): Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Privilege Escalation Vulnerability (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-20117 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-20117 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC), published on 26 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-20117 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC). No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20117/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20117/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-20117
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-20117
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-20117

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20117/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.