Authenticated SNMP DoS in Cisco IOS Software via SNMP Parsing Error
CVE-2025-20174 Published on February 5, 2025

A vulnerability in the SNMP subsystem of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to cause a DoS condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to improper error handling when parsing SNMP requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted SNMP request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to reload unexpectedly, resulting in a DoS condition.  This vulnerability affects SNMP versions 1, 2c, and 3. To exploit this vulnerability through SNMP v2c or earlier, the attacker must know a valid read-write or read-only SNMP community string for the affected system. To exploit this vulnerability through SNMP v3, the attacker must have valid SNMP user credentials for the affected system.

NVD

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2025-20174 is exploitable with network access, and requires small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have no impact on confidentiality and integrity, and a high impact on availability.

Attack Vector:
NETWORK
Attack Complexity:
LOW
Privileges Required:
LOW
User Interaction:
NONE
Scope:
CHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
NONE
Integrity Impact:
NONE
Availability Impact:
HIGH

Weakness Type

Buffer Access with Incorrect Length Value

The software uses a sequential operation to read or write a buffer, but it uses an incorrect length value that causes it to access memory that is outside of the bounds of the buffer. When the length value exceeds the size of the destination, a buffer overflow could occur.


Products Associated with CVE-2025-20174

You can be notified by email with stack.watch whenever vulnerabilities like CVE-2025-20174 are published in these products:

Cisco Internetwork Operating System (IOS)
 
Cisco IOS XE
 

Affected Versions

Cisco IOS: Cisco IOS XE Software:

Exploit Probability

EPSS
0.37%
Percentile
58.27%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.