Medium severity · published Sep 10, 2025
CVE-2025-20159
Cisco IOS XR Software Management Interface ACL Bypass Vulnerability
5.3
CVSS
0.3%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
A vulnerability in the management interface access control list (ACL) processing feature in Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass configured ACLs for the SSH, NetConf, and gRPC features. This vulnerability exists because management interface ACLs have not been supported on Cisco IOS XR Software Packet I/O infrastructure platforms for Linux-handled features such as SSH, NetConf, or gRPC. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by attempting to send traffic to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass an ingress ACL that is applied on the management interface of the affected device.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.3% · higher than 26% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
CI
Cisco IOS XR Software · Cisco
6.6.1; 6.5.3; 7.0.1; 6.6.11; 6.5.1; 6.5.2; +34 more · source: vendor
Affected product
CI
Cisco IOS XR Software
Cisco
More from Cisco IOS XR Software
8.8
CVE-2020-3118
Cisco IOS XR Software Cisco Discovery Protocol Format String Vulnerability
8.6
CVE-2020-3569
Cisco IOS XR Software DVMRP Memory Exhaustion Vulnerabilities
8.6
CVE-2020-3566
Cisco IOS XR Software DVMRP Memory Exhaustion Vulnerability
6.5
CVE-2022-20821
Cisco IOS XR Software Health Check Open Port Vulnerability
9.8
CVE-2026-20279
Cisco IOS XR Software Security Hardening Release: September 2026