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Medium

Local privilege escalation to root in Cisco IOS XE CLI

IdentifiersCVE-2025-20338CWE-74

CVE-2025-20338 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XE Software. According to the provided content, the flaw is caused by insufficient validation of user-supplied arguments passed to specific CLI commands. An authenticated local attacker with valid administrative privileges (level 15) can exploit the issue by logging into the device CLI and issuing crafted commands. Successful exploitation results in arbitrary command execution as root on the underlying operating system of the affected device.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

A successful exploit allows an attacker who already has administrative CLI access to escape the intended privilege boundary and execute arbitrary commands with root privileges on the underlying operating system. This can result in full device compromise, including modification of system configuration, installation of persistent backdoors or tooling, tampering with security controls, access to sensitive data present on the device, and disruption of device operation.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

No specific workaround or mitigation is provided in the supplied content. In the absence of a vendor-provided workaround, reduce exposure by strictly limiting CLI access to trusted administrators only, minimizing the number of accounts with level 15 privileges, enforcing strong authentication and access controls for device administration, and monitoring for suspicious or unexpected CLI command execution until patches can be applied.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Update affected Cisco IOS XE Software to a fixed release in accordance with Cisco’s official advisory and version-specific guidance. The provided content indicates that Cisco recommends updating vulnerable products according to the vendor’s instructions. Specific fixed versions are not included in the provided content and should be obtained from Cisco’s advisory for CVE-2025-20338.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
Cisco SystemsIos Xeoperating_system

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

5 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

5 SOURCESView more in app
What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.
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Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity3

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.

EXTERNAL REFERENCES
MITRE CVE
cve.org · CVE-2025-20338
NVD
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-20338
MITRE CWE · CWE-74
cwe.mitre.org
Vendor Advisory
sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-iosxe-arg-inject-EyDDbh4e