# CVE-2025-20149: Memory corruption in Cisco IOS XE Software

> A local authenticated attacker can trigger a buffer overflow via CLI commands, causing a denial of service on Cisco IOS devices.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 24 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 24 Sep 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-833m-h6fc-hmvx

## What is CVE-2025-20149?

CVE-2025-20149 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Cisco Ios, published on 24 Sep 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 IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to cause an affected device to reload unexpectedly, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition.

 This vulnerability is due to a buffer overflow. An attacker with a low-privileged account could exploit this vulnerability by using crafted commands at the CLI prompt. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition.

Weakness: CWE-120 (Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-20149?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Cisco Ios, Cisco Ios Xe.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-20149?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-20149 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-20149 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-20149 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Ios

- [CVE-2017-12240](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12240/): Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software DHCP Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-3881](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-3881/): Cisco IOS and IOS XE Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-0167](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0167/): Cisco IOS, XR, and XE Software Buffer Overflow (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-6736](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6736/): Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software SNMP Remote Code Execution (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-6737](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6737/): Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software SNMP Remote Code Execution (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-20149 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-20149 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Cisco Ios, published on 24 Sep 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-2025-20149 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Ios. 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-2025-20149/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20149/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-20149
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-20149
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-20149

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20149/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.