VulnerabilityPublished 16 Apr 2025Updated 26 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-20178: Cisco Secure Network Analytics · Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature

Affects Cisco Secure Network AnalyticsSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.0 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.0Medium

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

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 30% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: None

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

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
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: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to 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 16 Apr 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 26 Oct 2026.

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 or the CVSS exploit maturity 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 Secure Network Analytics	Affected =7.5.0 =7.5.1 =7.5.2	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Organizations should immediately verify if they are running affected versions (7.5.0, 7.5.1, 7.5.2) of Cisco Secure Network Analytics and apply any patches or updates Cisco releases addressing this vulnerability. In the absence of patches, restrict administrative access strictly to trusted personnel and enforce strong authentication mechanisms such as multi-factor authentication (MFA). Implement rigorous monitoring and auditing of backup and restore operations to detect any unauthorized or suspicious activity. Limit the ability to restore backup files to a minimal set of administrators and validate backup files through out-of-band methods before restoration. Network segmentation and least privilege principles should be applied to reduce the risk of credential compromise. Regularly review and rotate administrative credentials and consider using hardware security modules (HSMs) or other cryptographic protections to safeguard backup integrity. Finally, maintain an incident response plan that includes procedures for rapid containment and remediation if exploitation is suspected.

Description

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Secure Network Analytics could allow an authenticated, remote attacker with valid administrative credentials to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying operating system. This vulnerability is due to insufficient integrity checks within device backup files. An attacker with valid administrative credentials could exploit this vulnerability by crafting a malicious backup file and restoring it to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain shell access on the underlying operating system with the privileges of root.

Impact

If exploited, this vulnerability allows an attacker with administrative credentials to gain root-level shell access on Cisco Secure Network Analytics devices. This can lead to complete compromise of the affected system, including unauthorized access to sensitive network analytics data, manipulation or deletion of logs, and disruption of network monitoring capabilities. The attacker could also use the compromised device as a pivot point to launch further attacks within the network. Given the critical role of Cisco Secure Network Analytics in network security monitoring and threat detection, such a compromise could severely degrade an organization's security posture, delay incident response, and increase the risk of undetected breaches. The requirement for valid administrative credentials limits the attack surface but does not eliminate risk, especially in environments where credential theft or insider threats are possible.

References

sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sna-prvesc-4BQmK33Z (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 26 Feb 2026, 19:45 UTC

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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