{"id":87112,"date":"2026-06-13T10:00:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T10:00:02","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T06:00:00","slug":"cve-2025-20202-denial-of-service-vulnerability-in-cisco-ios-xe-wireless-controller-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-20202-denial-of-service-vulnerability-in-cisco-ios-xe-wireless-controller-software\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-20202: Denial of Service Vulnerability in Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This report discusses CVE-2025-20202, a severe vulnerability found in Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software. It impacts the network infrastructure of organizations utilizing the affected software, posing a significant threat to their operations and data integrity. This vulnerability, if exploited, could allow an attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition, disrupting network services and potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-20202<br \/>\nSeverity: High (7.4 CVSS Score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: None<br \/>\nImpact: A successful exploit of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to cause a denial of service condition, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-2028707462\" 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: 720px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center; letter-spacing: -0.02em;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 10px;\">\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: 42px; height: 42px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    Share secrets securely\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 14px; color: #d1d5db;\">\r\n    Ameeba is private infrastructure for communication and sensitive work built on encrypted identity instead of exposed corporate identity systems.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 18px; color: #a1a1aa;\">\r\n    Passwords, credentials, confidential files, screenshots, internal discussions, sensitive AI context, and private coordination should not become exposed across ordinary communication platforms.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #e4e4e7;\">\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Private Spaces for organizations and teams<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, files, and notes<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Sensitive AI work and protected collaboration<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Built for information that cannot leak<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #ffffff;\">\r\n    Our mission is to secure human work alongside AI.\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: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Download Ameeba\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Learn More\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software | All versions prior to the latest patch<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This vulnerability is due to inadequate input validation of access point (AP) Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) neighbor reports when processed by the wireless controller. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending a maliciously crafted CDP packet to an AP. If successful, the attacker could cause an unexpected reload of the wireless controller managing the AP, resulting in a denial of service condition that disrupts the wireless network.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-2309129459\" 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>The following is a conceptual representation of the maliciously crafted CDP packet sent to the access point:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">cdp send interface eth0\nDestination MAC: 01:00:0C:CC:CC:CC\nCDP Version: 2\nTTL: 180\nChecksum: 0x0000 (incorrect)\nDevice ID: Malicious_Device\nSoftware Version: Cisco IOS Software, C2960 Software (C2960-LANBASEK9-M), Version 12.2(25)SEE2, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)\nPlatform: cisco WS-C2960-8TC-L\nAddresses: 1 address\n1. IP: 192.0.2.1\nPort ID: Gig 0\/1\nCapabilities: Router, L2 Switch, IGMP filtering\nVTP Management Domain:\nNative VLAN: 1\nDuplex: full\nPower available: 0 mW, Power request id: 0, Power management id: 0<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>Please note that the above pseudocode is a conceptual representation of how an exploit may occur. The actual exploit would be specific to the vulnerabilities in the code of the affected software.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To mitigate this vulnerability, it is recommended to apply the latest patch provided by the vendor. In case the patch cannot be applied immediately, the use of Web Application Firewalls (WAF) or Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) could serve as a temporary mitigation measure. These tools can help identify and block the crafted CDP packets that could exploit the vulnerability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview This report discusses CVE-2025-20202, a severe vulnerability found in Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software. It impacts the network infrastructure of organizations utilizing the affected software, posing a significant threat to their operations and data integrity. This vulnerability, if exploited, could allow an attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition, disrupting network [&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":[],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-87112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87112","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=87112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87112"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=87112"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=87112"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=87112"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=87112"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=87112"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=87112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}