CVE-2025-20148VulnerabilityPublished 14 Aug 2025

CVE-2025-20148: Cisco Firepower Management Center · Improper Input Validation

Affects Cisco Firepower Management CenterSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.5 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.5High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 39% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 14 Aug 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Cisco Cisco Firepower Management Center	Affected =7.2.4 =7.0.6 =7.2.4.1 =7.2.5 =7.4.0 =7.0.6.1 =7.2.5.1 =7.4.1 =7.2.6 =7.4.1.1 =7.0.6.2 =7.2.7 =7.2.5.2 =7.2.8 =7.4.2 =7.2.8.1 =7.0.6.3 =7.4.2.1 =7.2.9	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Immediate patching: Organizations should prioritize upgrading affected Cisco FMC instances to the latest patched versions once Cisco releases updates addressing CVE-2025-20148. 2. Restrict access: Limit FMC web interface access strictly to trusted administrators and security analysts via network segmentation, VPNs, or zero-trust access controls. 3. Enforce strong authentication: Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all FMC user accounts to reduce the risk of credential compromise. 4. Monitor and audit: Enable detailed logging and regularly audit user activities on FMC to detect anomalous behavior indicative of exploitation attempts. 5. Least privilege principle: Review and minimize user roles and permissions within FMC, ensuring that only necessary personnel have Security Analyst or higher roles. 6. Network controls: Employ internal firewall rules and web application firewalls (WAFs) to detect and block SSRF attempts originating from FMC. 7. Incident response readiness: Prepare for potential exploitation by establishing procedures to quickly isolate affected systems and analyze forensic data. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on access control hardening, monitoring, and network-level protections tailored to FMC's role and the nature of this vulnerability.

Description

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to inject arbitrary HTML content into a device-generated document. This vulnerability is due to improper validation of user-supplied data. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by submitting malicious content to an affected device and using the device to generate a document that contains sensitive information. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to alter the standard layout of the device-generated documents, read arbitrary files from the underlying operating system, and conduct server-side request forgery (SSRF) attacks. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid credentials for a user account with at least the role of Security Analyst (Read Only).

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability could have severe consequences. Cisco FMC is commonly deployed in large enterprises, service providers, and government agencies across Europe to manage firewall policies and monitor network security. Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive security documents and configuration files, undermining confidentiality. The ability to perform SSRF attacks could allow attackers to pivot within internal networks, potentially accessing other critical infrastructure or exfiltrating data. Alteration of device-generated documents could also mislead security analysts or auditors, impacting the integrity of security monitoring and compliance reporting. Given the privileged nature of FMC in network defense, compromise could weaken an organization's overall security posture, increasing the risk of further intrusions or data breaches. The requirement for authenticated access somewhat limits the attack surface but does not eliminate risk, especially if credential theft or insider threats are considered. The lack of known exploits in the wild suggests a window of opportunity for proactive mitigation before active exploitation.

References

sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-fmc-html-inj-MqjrZrny (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 14 Aug 2025, 17:19 UTC

Technical details

References

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