# CVE-2025-20172: Denial of service in Cisco IOS XE Software

> An authenticated remote attacker can cause a denial of service on Cisco IOS devices by sending crafted SNMP requests that trigger improper error handling.

- **Severity:** High 7.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 5 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 13 Mar 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-fg9r-rh56-7jcv

## What is CVE-2025-20172?

CVE-2025-20172 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Ios, published on 5 Feb 2025. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the SNMP subsystem of Cisco IOS Software, Cisco IOS XE Software, and Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to cause a DoS condition on an affected device.

This vulnerability is due to improper error handling when parsing SNMP requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted SNMP request to an affected device. For Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software, a successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to reload unexpectedly, resulting in a DoS condition. For Cisco IOS XR Software, a successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the SNMP process to restart, resulting in an interrupted SNMP response from an affected device. Devices that are running Cisco IOS XR Software will not reload. 
This vulnerability affects SNMP versions 1, 2c, and 3. To exploit this vulnerability through SNMP v2c or earlier, the attacker must know a valid read-write or read-only SNMP community string for the affected system. To exploit this vulnerability through SNMP v3, the attacker must have valid SNMP user credentials for the affected system.

Weakness: CWE-248 (Uncaught Exception)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-20172?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Cisco Ios, Cisco Ios Xe, Cisco Ios Xr.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-20172?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-20172 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-20172 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-20172 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-2025-20172 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-20172 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Ios, published on 5 Feb 2025. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-20172 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-2025-20172/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20172/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-20172
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-20172
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-20172

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20172/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.