CVE-2025-20261 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2025-20261
Vulnerability Scoring

8.8
/10
Severe Risk

Cybersecurity professionals consider CVE-2025-20261 an immediate threat requiring urgent mitigation.

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity: Low
    Exploits can be performed without significant complexity or special conditions.
  • Attack Vector: Network
    Vulnerability is exploitable over a network without physical access.
  • Privileges Required: Low
    Some privileges are necessary to exploit the vulnerability.
  • Scope: Unchanged
    Exploit remains within the originally vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: None
    No user interaction is necessary for exploitation.

CVE-2025-20261 Details

Status: Awaiting Analysis

Last updated: 🕗 05 Jun 2025, 20:12 UTC
Originally published on: 🕔 04 Jun 2025, 17:15 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 1 days

CVSS Release: version 3

CVSS3 Source

psirt@cisco.com

CVSS3 Type

Primary

CVSS3 Vector

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

CVE-2025-20261 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2025-20261: A vulnerability in the SSH connection handling of Cisco Integrated Management Controller (IMC) for Cisco UCS B-Series, UCS C-Series, UCS S-Series, and UCS X-Series Servers could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to access internal services with elevated privileges. This vulnerability is due to insufficient restrictions on access to internal services. An attacker with a valid user account could exploit this vulnerability by using crafted syntax when connecting to the Cisco IMC of an affected device through SSH. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to access internal services with elevated privileges, which may allow unauthorized modifications to the system, including the possibility of creating new administrator accounts on the affected device.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2025-20261

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2025-20261 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2025-20261

CVE-2025-20261 presents an accessible attack vector with minimal effort required. Restricting access controls and implementing security updates are critical to reducing exploitation risks.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2025-20261, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2025-20261, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: High
    Exploiting CVE-2025-20261 can result in unauthorized access to sensitive data, severely compromising data privacy.
  • Integrity: High
    CVE-2025-20261 could allow unauthorized modifications to data, potentially affecting system reliability and trust.
  • Availability: High
    CVE-2025-20261 can disrupt system operations, potentially causing complete denial of service (DoS).

CVE-2025-20261 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-923

CAPEC Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

  • Infrastructure Manipulation CAPEC-161 An attacker exploits characteristics of the infrastructure of a network entity in order to perpetrate attacks or information gathering on network objects or effect a change in the ordinary information flow between network objects. Most often, this involves manipulation of the routing of network messages so, instead of arriving at their proper destination, they are directed towards an entity of the attackers' choosing, usually a server controlled by the attacker. The victim is often unaware that their messages are not being processed correctly. For example, a targeted client may believe they are connecting to their own bank but, in fact, be connecting to a Pharming site controlled by the attacker which then collects the user's login information in order to hijack the actual bank account.
  • Contradictory Destinations in Traffic Routing Schemes CAPEC-481 Adversaries can provide contradictory destinations when sending messages. Traffic is routed in networks using the domain names in various headers available at different levels of the OSI model. In a Content Delivery Network (CDN) multiple domains might be available, and if there are contradictory domain names provided it is possible to route traffic to an inappropriate destination. The technique, called Domain Fronting, involves using different domain names in the SNI field of the TLS header and the Host field of the HTTP header. An alternative technique, called Domainless Fronting, is similar, but the SNI field is left blank.
  • Android Activity Hijack CAPEC-501 An adversary intercepts an implicit intent sent to launch a Android-based trusted activity and instead launches a counterfeit activity in its place. The malicious activity is then used to mimic the trusted activity's user interface and prompt the target to enter sensitive data as if they were interacting with the trusted activity.
  • DHCP Spoofing CAPEC-697 An adversary masquerades as a legitimate Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server by spoofing DHCP traffic, with the goal of redirecting network traffic or denying service to DHCP.

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