10.0
CRITICAL CVSS 3.1
CVE-2025-20265
"Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center RADIUS Command Injection Vulnerability"
Description

A vulnerability in the RADIUS subsystem implementation of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to inject arbitrary shell commands that are executed by the device.  This vulnerability is due to a lack of proper handling of user input during the authentication phase. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted input when entering credentials that will be authenticated at the configured RADIUS server. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute commands at a high privilege level. Note: For this vulnerability to be exploited, Cisco Secure FMC Software must be configured for RADIUS authentication for the web-based management interface, SSH management, or both.

INFO

Published Date :

Aug. 14, 2025, 5:15 p.m.

Last Modified :

Aug. 16, 2025, 1:15 a.m.

Remotely Exploit :

Yes !
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2025-20265 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Cisco firepower_management_center
2 Cisco secure_firewall_management_center
CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 CRITICAL [email protected]
Solution
Remediate by applying patches and validating user input for RADIUS authentication.
  • Apply the latest security patches from Cisco.
  • Review and restrict RADIUS authentication configurations.
  • Validate all user input rigorously.
  • Monitor for unauthorized command execution.
Public PoC/Exploit Available at Github

CVE-2025-20265 has a 2 public PoC/Exploit available at Github. Go to the Public Exploits tab to see the list.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2025-20265 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2025-20265 weaknesses.

CAPEC-3: Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters CAPEC-6: Argument Injection Argument Injection CAPEC-7: Blind SQL Injection Blind SQL Injection CAPEC-8: Buffer Overflow in an API Call Buffer Overflow in an API Call CAPEC-9: Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities CAPEC-10: Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables CAPEC-13: Subverting Environment Variable Values Subverting Environment Variable Values CAPEC-14: Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow CAPEC-24: Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow CAPEC-28: Fuzzing Fuzzing CAPEC-34: HTTP Response Splitting HTTP Response Splitting CAPEC-42: MIME Conversion MIME Conversion CAPEC-43: Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers CAPEC-45: Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links CAPEC-46: Overflow Variables and Tags Overflow Variables and Tags CAPEC-47: Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion CAPEC-51: Poison Web Service Registry Poison Web Service Registry CAPEC-52: Embedding NULL Bytes Embedding NULL Bytes CAPEC-53: Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash CAPEC-64: Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-67: String Format Overflow in syslog() String Format Overflow in syslog() CAPEC-71: Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-72: URL Encoding URL Encoding CAPEC-76: Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls CAPEC-78: Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-79: Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-80: Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-83: XPath Injection XPath Injection CAPEC-84: XQuery Injection XQuery Injection CAPEC-101: Server Side Include (SSI) Injection Server Side Include (SSI) Injection CAPEC-105: HTTP Request Splitting HTTP Request Splitting CAPEC-108: Command Line Execution through SQL Injection Command Line Execution through SQL Injection CAPEC-120: Double Encoding Double Encoding CAPEC-135: Format String Injection Format String Injection CAPEC-250: XML Injection XML Injection CAPEC-267: Leverage Alternate Encoding Leverage Alternate Encoding CAPEC-273: HTTP Response Smuggling HTTP Response Smuggling

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Safe Python script to detect Cisco FMC instances potentially vulnerable to CVE-2025-20265. Uses official FMC API to check version, supports single/multi-target scanning, and includes a harmless local PoC marker.

Python

Updated: 2 weeks, 3 days ago
2 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : Aug. 15, 2025, 6:35 a.m. This repo has been linked 1 different CVEs too.

📡 PoC auto collect from GitHub. ⚠️ Be careful Malware.

security cve exploit poc vulnerability

Updated: 15 hours, 29 minutes ago
7244 stars 1201 fork 1201 watcher
Born at : Dec. 8, 2019, 1:03 p.m. This repo has been linked 808 different CVEs too.

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2025-20265 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

  • TheCyberThrone
Cisco FMC and FTD Vulnerabilities

August 18, 2025CISCO FMC VulnerabilityCVE-2025-20265 (CVSS 10.0)Description: Remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in the RADIUS authentication subsystem of FMC. Exploitable remotely and unauthent ... Read more

Published Date: Aug 18, 2025 (2 weeks, 2 days ago)
  • The Register
Cisco's Secure Firewall Management Center now not-so secure, springs a CVSS 10 RCE hole

Cisco has issued a patch for a maximum-severity bug in its Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) software that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to inject arbitrary shell commands on v ... Read more

Published Date: Aug 15, 2025 (2 weeks, 5 days ago)
  • BleepingComputer
Cisco warns of max severity flaw in Firewall Management Center

Cisco is warning about a critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in the RADIUS subsystem of its Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) software. Cisco FCM is a management platform for the ... Read more

Published Date: Aug 15, 2025 (2 weeks, 5 days ago)
  • security.nl
Cisco dicht kritiek beveiligingslek in beheersysteem van firewalls

Cisco heeft een kritieke kwetsbaarheid in het Secure Firewall Management Center gedicht, een appliance waarmee organisaties hun Cisco-firewalls kunnen beheren. Via het beveiligingslek kan een ongeauth ... Read more

Published Date: Aug 15, 2025 (2 weeks, 6 days ago)
  • CybersecurityNews
Cisco Secure Firewall Snort 3 Detection Engine Vulnerability Enables DoS Attacks

Critical security flaw CVE-2025-20217 allows unauthenticated attackers to trigger denial-of-service conditions in Cisco’s widely deployed firewall systems Cisco has disclosed a high-severity vulnerabi ... Read more

Published Date: Aug 15, 2025 (2 weeks, 6 days ago)
  • The Hacker News
Cisco Warns of CVSS 10.0 FMC RADIUS Flaw Allowing Remote Code Execution

Aug 15, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Network Security Cisco has released security updates to address a maximum-severity security flaw in Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software that ... Read more

Published Date: Aug 15, 2025 (2 weeks, 6 days ago)
  • CybersecurityNews
Cisco Secure Firewall Vulnerability Allows Hackers to Inject Remote Shell Command Injection

Cisco has disclosed a critical security vulnerability in its Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software that could allow unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary shell commands with high-l ... Read more

Published Date: Aug 15, 2025 (2 weeks, 6 days ago)
  • Daily CyberSecurity
ImageMagick Patches Multiple Flaws: High-Severity Memory Bugs Fixed

The maintainers of ImageMagick have patched four security vulnerabilities that could impact applications using the popular image manipulation toolkit, including high-severity memory corruption bugs th ... Read more

Published Date: Aug 15, 2025 (2 weeks, 6 days ago)
  • Daily CyberSecurity
Critical Cisco RCE Flaw (CVE-2025-20265, CVSS 10): Unauthenticated Attackers Can Hijack Firewalls

Cisco has disclosed a critical remote code execution vulnerability in its Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software that could allow unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary commands with ... Read more

Published Date: Aug 15, 2025 (2 weeks, 6 days ago)

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2025-20265 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • CVE Modified by af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108

    Aug. 16, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cisco-warns-of-max-severity-flaw-in-firewall-management-center/
    Added Reference https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/15/cisco_secure_firewall_management_bug/
  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Aug. 15, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_firewall_management_center:7.0.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_firewall_management_center:7.7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    Added Reference Type Cisco Systems, Inc.: https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-fmc-radius-rce-TNBKf79 Types: Vendor Advisory
  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Aug. 14, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description A vulnerability in the RADIUS subsystem implementation of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to inject arbitrary shell commands that are executed by the device.  This vulnerability is due to a lack of proper handling of user input during the authentication phase. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted input when entering credentials that will be authenticated at the configured RADIUS server. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute commands at a high privilege level. Note: For this vulnerability to be exploited, Cisco Secure FMC Software must be configured for RADIUS authentication for the web-based management interface, SSH management, or both.
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
    Added CWE CWE-74
    Added Reference https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-fmc-radius-rce-TNBKf79
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
Vulnerability Scoring Details
Base CVSS Score: 10
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality Impact
Integrity Impact
Availability Impact