Overview
The cybersecurity world is always in a state of flux, with new vulnerabilities surfacing every day. One such vulnerability, CVE-2025-20148, impacts the web-based management interface of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software. This vulnerability can potentially allow an authenticated, remote attacker to inject arbitrary HTML content into a document generated by the device.
What makes this issue critical is its potential to compromise systems or leak sensitive data. With an CVSS severity score of 8.5, it’s a high-risk scenario that demands immediate attention from anyone using the affected products. This vulnerability is particularly concerning as it allows for a multitude of exploitations, including the alteration of document layouts and conducting server-side request forgery (SSRF) attacks.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-20148
Severity: High – 8.5 (CVSS score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: High (Security Analyst – Read Only)
User Interaction: Required
Impact: System compromise, Data leakage, SSRF attacks
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software | All Versions prior to the patch
How the Exploit Works
The exploit takes advantage of improper validation of user-supplied data in the web-based management interface of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software. An attacker, with valid access credentials, can submit malicious content to the affected device. Once the device generates a document that contains this malicious content, it can cause a series of exploitations including the alteration of the standard layout of the device-generated documents, reading arbitrary files from the underlying operating system, and conducting SSRF attacks.
Conceptual Example Code
Here’s a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited:
POST /web-management/interface HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/html
<html>
<body>
<script>
// Your malicious script here
</script>
</body>
</html>This payload, when processed by the affected device, can inject arbitrary HTML content into a document generated by the device, leading to the potential exploits outlined earlier.