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Ios XeOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2025-20190

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-07
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A vulnerability in the lobby ambassador web interface of Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to remove arbitrary users that are defined on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient access control of actions executed by lobby ambassador users. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging in to an affected device with a lobby ambassador user account and sending crafted HTTP requests to the API. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to delete arbitrary user accounts on the device, including users with administrative privileges. Note: This vulnerability is exploitable only if the attacker obtains the credentials for a lobby ambassador account. This account is not configured by default.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Insufficient access control in the lobby ambassador web interface of Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software allows authenticated lobby ambassador users to delete arbitrary user accounts via crafted HTTP API requests. The vulnerability stems from missing authorization checks on delete operations, enabling privilege escalation from lobby ambassador to administrative-level account manipulation.

MitigationApply Cisco's patch when available. Until then, minimize lobby ambassador account usage, audit existing lobby ambassador credentials, and monitor for suspicious account deletion activity through logging.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Ios XeOperating system
Affected:= 17.6.8= 17.9.6= 17.9.6a= 17.12.1z2= 17.12.1z3= 17.15.1= 17.15.1x

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify product and version
    Run 'show version' or access the device management interface to confirm the device is running Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software and record the installed version number
    Affected if The installed version matches any of these: 17.6.8, 17.9.6, 17.9.6a, 17.12.1z2, 17.12.1z3, 17.15.1, or 17.15.1x
  2. Verify lobby ambassador feature is enabled
    Access the web interface or use CLI commands to check if the lobby ambassador role or user accounts with lobby ambassador privileges exist on the controller
    Affected if Lobby ambassador user accounts are configured on the system
  3. Inspect HTTP API endpoints for account management
    Review the web interface configuration or capture HTTP traffic to identify API endpoints related to user account deletion (such as /accounts or similar user management endpoints)
    Affected if The lobby ambassador web interface exposes account deletion API endpoints without proper authorization checks
  4. Review account deletion logs
    Examine system logs, audit logs, or accounting logs for account deletion events, looking for operations initiated by lobby ambassador-level users
    Affected if Logs show account deletion operations performed by users with only lobby ambassador privileges

A user is affected if the system runs a Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller version matching one of the affected releases AND has lobby ambassador accounts configured, allowing those users to delete arbitrary accounts via the web interface API.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Cisco's patch when available. Until then, minimize lobby ambassador account usage, audit existing lobby ambassador credentials, and monitor for suspicious account deletion activity through logging.

Fix this in Ios Xe Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $2,000
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-20190 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data