# CVE-2025-20265: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Software Radius Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

> Unauthenticated remote attackers can execute arbitrary shell commands with high privileges if RADIUS authentication is enabled.

- **Severity:** Critical 10.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 14 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 26 Feb 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rc2h-jcr9-jm85

## What is CVE-2025-20265?

CVE-2025-20265 is a critical command injection vulnerability in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center, published on 14 Aug 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the RADIUS subsystem implementation of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to inject arbitrary shell commands that are executed by the device. 

This vulnerability is due to a lack of proper handling of user input during the authentication phase. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted input when entering credentials that will be authenticated at the configured RADIUS server. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute commands at a high privilege level.
Note: For this vulnerability to be exploited, Cisco Secure FMC Software must be configured for RADIUS authentication for the web-based management interface, SSH management, or both.

Weakness: CWE-74 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-20265?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-20265?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-20265 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-20265 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-20265 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- Safe Python script to detect Cisco FMC instances potentially vulnerable to CVE-2025-20265.  Uses official FMC API to check version, supports single/multi-target scanning, and includes  a harmless local PoC marker. (github_poc): https://github.com/jordan922/cve2025-20265
- This is a minimal, educational simulation that demonstrates the _impact_ class of a management-plane parsing RCE (inspired by CVE-2025-20265). It intentionally executes commands from crafted input for local learning only. (github_poc): https://github.com/amalpvatayam67/day08-CISCO-fmc-sim
- PoC for CVE-2025-20265 Cisco Secure FMC Software RADIUS Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (github_poc): https://github.com/saruman9/cve_2025_20265

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center

- [CVE-2026-20079](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20079/): Cisco Firewall Management Center Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-20131](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20131/): Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software and Cisco Security Cloud Control (SCC) Firewall Management Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-20316](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20316/): Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Use of Hard-coded Password (medium 5.3, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-20424](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-20424/): Command injection in Cisco Firepower Management Center (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2023-20048](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20048/): Missing authorization in Cisco Firepower Management Center (critical 9.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-20265 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-20265 is a critical command injection vulnerability in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center, published on 14 Aug 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-2025-20265 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center. 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-2025-20265/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20265/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-20265
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-20265
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-20265

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20265/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.