CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2025-20248 — A vulnerability in the installation process of Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to bypass Cisco IOS...

Medium CVSS 6

A vulnerability in the installation process of Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to bypass Cisco IOS XR Software image signature verification and load unsigned software on an affected device. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have root-system privileges on the affected device. This vulnerability is due to incomplete validation of files during the installation of an .iso file. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by modifying contents of the .iso image and then installing and activating it on the device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to load an unsigned file as part of the image activation process.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
6 (3.1)
Published
2025-09-10
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-347

Affected products

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Matched remediation archetype

Cryptography, certificate, signature, and channel validation

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Inventory affected algorithms, key uses, trust stores, certificate validation settings, random sources, and plaintext channels across clients and services.
  • Determine which secrets, identities, signatures, or data protections depend on the affected primitive or validation path.
  • Check debug, compatibility, fallback, and hostname or audience override settings in build and runtime configuration.

Remediate safely

  • Use a maintained platform cryptographic API with approved algorithms, modes, parameters, randomness, and full peer identity validation.
  • Remove insecure fallback and validation bypasses; separate keys by purpose and load them from managed secret storage.
  • Plan rotation or reissuance for affected keys, certificates, tokens, hashes, or ciphertext and document compatibility sequencing.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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