Cisco Releases Security Advisories for Cisco IOS XR Software

Cisco has released 10 security advisories addressing multiple vulnerabilities, including seven high and three medium severity advisories affecting Cisco IOS XR Software, which is a networking software system.

CVE-2025-20138 is an 'improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS Command' vulnerability with a CVSSv3 score of 8.8. Successful exploitation could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands and elevate privileges on an affected device, provided that the attacker has valid read-only administrative credentials. 

CVE-2025-20177 is an 'improper handling of insufficient privileges' vulnerability with a CVSSv3 score of 6.7. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to bypass Cisco IOS XR image signature verification and load unverified software.

CVE-2025-20143 is an 'improper verification of cryptographic signature' vulnerability with a CVSSv3 score of 6.7. This vulnerability could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to bypass the Secure Boot functionality and load unverified software on an affected device, provided that the attacker has valid read-only administrative credentials. 

Other high severity vulnerabilities could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to conduct a denial-of-service (DoS) attack on an affected device. 

Two medium severity vulnerabilities CVE-2025-20145 and CVE-2025-20144 could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass a configured access control list (ACL) on an affected device. CVE-2025-20145 is a 'permissions, privileges, and access controls' vulnerability with a CVSSv3 score of 5.8 and CVE-2025-20144 an 'improper access control' vulnerability with a CVSSv3 score of 4.