CVE-2025-20315 Denial of service in Cisco IOS XE Software

High 8.6 Published 24 Sep 2025 Updated 24 Sep 2025

Remote unauthenticated attackers can cause Cisco IOS XE devices to reload via malformed CAPWAP packets, resulting in a denial of service.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2025-20315?

CVE-2025-20315 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 24 Sep 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A vulnerability in the Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR) feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to improper handling of malformed Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending malformed CAPWAP packets through an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to reload unexpectedly, resulting in a DoS condition.

Weakness: CWE-805

Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-20315?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Cisco Ios Xe.

How do I fix CVE-2025-20315?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-20315 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2025-20315 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-20315 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Cisco Ios Xe vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-mq8j-42c3-pxm3.