# CVE-2025-20145: Cisco IOS XR Software Access Control List Bypass Vulnerability

> Remote attackers can bypass egress access control lists on Cisco IOS XR devices by sending crafted traffic, requiring software upgrades to mitigate.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Mar 2025
- **Updated:** 21 Mar 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-cqp7-cmgp-m73g

## What is CVE-2025-20145?

CVE-2025-20145 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xr, published on 12 Mar 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the access control list (ACL) processing in the egress direction of Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass a configured ACL.

This vulnerability exists because certain packets are handled incorrectly when they are received on an ingress interface on one line card and destined out of an egress interface on another line card where the egress ACL is configured. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by attempting to send traffic through an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass an egress ACL on the affected device.
For more information about this vulnerability, see the  section of this advisory.
Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-20145?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Ios Xr.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-20145?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-20145 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-20145 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-20145 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Ios Xr

- [CVE-2020-3118](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3118/): Cisco IOS XR Software Discovery Protocol Format String (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-3569](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3569/): Cisco IOS XR Software DVMRP Memory Exhaustion (high 8.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-3566](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3566/): Cisco IOS XR Software DVMRP Memory Exhaustion (high 8.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2010-3035](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-3035/): Cisco IOS XR Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Denial-of-Service (high 7.5, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-20821](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20821/): Cisco IOS XR Open Port (medium 6.5, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-20145 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-20145 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xr, published on 12 Mar 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-20145 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Ios Xr. 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-2025-20145/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20145/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-20145
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-20145
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-20145

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20145/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.