Overview
The CVE-2025-20164 is a critical vulnerability found in Cisco’s Industrial Ethernet Switch Device Manager within the Cisco IOS Software. This vulnerability, if exploited, allows an authenticated, remote attacker to escalate their privileges, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage. Given the widespread use of Cisco’s IOS software in networking environments, this vulnerability could have far-reaching implications if not promptly addressed. It underscores the importance of robustly validating user authorizations, even for authenticated users, to preserve system integrity.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-20164
Severity: Critical (8.3 CVSS Score)
Attack Vector: Network (Crafted HTTP Request)
Privileges Required: User account with privilege level 5 or above
User Interaction: Required (The attacker must be authenticated)
Impact: Potential system compromise, data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Cisco Industrial Ethernet Switch Device Manager | All versions prior to patch
How the Exploit Works
The exploit takes advantage of insufficient validation of user authorizations within the Cisco Industrial Ethernet Switch Device Manager. An attacker, already authenticated and having user privilege level 5 or higher, could send a specially crafted HTTP request to an affected device. The device fails to adequately validate the authorizations of the request, allowing the attacker to escalate their privileges to level 15. This could lead to complete system compromise, including unauthorized access to sensitive data and resources.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how such an HTTP request might look. Please note that this is a simplified and hypothetical representation intended to help readers understand the nature of the exploit.
POST /device_manager/privilege/escalate HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer valid_user_token
{ "new_privilege_level": "15" }In this example, the `new_privilege_level` field in the request body is exploited to request an elevation of privileges. The affected system, failing to adequately validate this request, may grant the attacker the requested level 15 privileges.
Mitigation
Users are encouraged to apply vendor patches as soon as possible. In the interim, or if patching is not immediately possible, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) could provide temporary mitigation. These systems should be configured to detect and block anomalous requests, such as those attempting to escalate privileges. However, these are temporary measures and do not substitute the need for patching and regularly updating system software.