Ios XeOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2025-20202
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 · uneditedA vulnerability in Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of access point (AP) Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) neighbor reports when they are processed by the wireless controller. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted CDP packet to an AP. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause an unexpected reload of the wireless controller that is managing the AP, resulting in a DoS condition that affects the wireless network.
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 confidenceA vulnerability in Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software allows an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause denial of service by sending crafted Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) packets to an associated access point. The insufficient input validation of CDP neighbor reports triggers an unexpected reload of the wireless controller.
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
= 16.10.1= 16.10.1a= 16.10.1b= 16.10.1c= 16.10.1d= 16.10.1e= 16.10.1f= 16.10.1g= 16.10.1s= 16.10.2= 16.10.3= 16.11.1CVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the IOS XE software versionRun 'show version' or 'show version | include IOS XE' on the device CLI to retrieve the installed software versionAffected if The displayed version matches any of: 16.10.1, 16.10.1a, 16.10.1b, 16.10.1c, 16.10.1d, 16.10.1e, 16.10.1f, 16.10.1g, 16.10.1s, 16.10.2, 16.10.3, or 16.11.1
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Confirm Wireless Controller feature is enabledRun 'show controllers wireless' or check the configuration for 'wireless controller' or 'wireless management' to verify wireless controller functionality is activeAffected if The wireless controller feature is enabled and running on the device
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Verify CDP is enabled on relevant interfacesRun 'show cdp neighbor' or 'show cdp interface' to check if Cisco Discovery Protocol is activeAffected if CDP is enabled on any interface, particularly on access point facing ports or trunk ports
You are affected if your device runs Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software version 16.10.1 through 16.11.1, has the wireless controller feature enabled, and has CDP operational on the network.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply the vendor-supplied patch/upgrade for Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software once available. Until then, consider disabling CDP on untrusted ports or implementing network access control to restrict adjacent attackers.
Fix this in Ios Xe
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-20202 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-20202 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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