- 5.1MediumCVSS base score
- 0.50%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 57% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
A vulnerability in the software upgrade process of Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches and Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches in standalone NX-OS mode could allow an authenticated, local attacker with valid Administrator credentials to execute a command injection attack on the underlying operating system of an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of specific elements within a software image. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by installing a crafted image. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system with root privileges. Note: Administrators should validate the hash of any software image before installation.
Timeline
ID reserved
By cisco
- 5 months later
· 5 months later
Published
- 1 day later
· 1 day later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| ciscoCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Medium5.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Deferred | 3.1 | Medium5.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.50% · top 57% of all CVEs (11 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.1.
Affected products
- affected 9.2(3)
- affected 7.0(3)I5(2)
- affected 6.0(2)A8(7a)
- affected 7.0(3)I4(5)
- affected 7.0(3)I4(6)
- affected 7.0(3)I4(3)
- affected 9.2(2v)
- affected 7.0(3)I4(7)
- affected 7.0(3)I4(1)
- affected 7.0(3)I4(8)
- affected 7.0(3)I4(2)
- affected 6.0(2)A8(11)
- affected 9.2(1)
- affected 9.2(2t)
- affected 9.2(3y)
- affected 7.0(3)I4(1t)
- affected 7.0(3)I7(6z)
- affected 9.3(2)
- affected 7.0(3)F3(3)
- affected 7.0(3)I7(3z)
- affected 7.0(3)IM7(2)
- affected 6.0(2)A8(11b)
- affected 7.0(3)I7(5a)
- affected 7.0(3)I6(1)
- affected 7.0(3)I5(3b)
- affected 9.2(4)
- affected 6.0(2)A8(10)
- affected 6.0(2)A8(2)
- affected 7.0(3)IC4(4)
- affected 7.0(3)F3(3c)
- affected 7.0(3)F3(1)
- affected 7.0(3)F3(5)
- affected 7.0(3)I7(2)
- affected 7.0(3)I5(3)
- affected 7.0(3)I7(3)
- affected 6.0(2)A8(6)
- affected 7.0(3)I6(2)
- affected 6.0(2)A8(5)
- affected 9.3(1)
- affected 6.0(2)A8(7)
- and 84 more
What to do
Exploitation: The Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of the vulnerability that is described in this advisory.
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2025-5296 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2025-20161)Record last updated .