CVE-2025-20270 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting Cisco Evolved Programmable Network Manager (EPNM) and Cisco Prime Infrastructure, specifically in their web-based management interfaces. The root cause is improper validation of requests to certain API endpoints, which allows an authenticated attacker with low privileges to access sensitive configuration information that should normally be restricted. Exploitation requires the attacker to have valid low-privileged credentials but does not require user interaction beyond sending crafted API requests. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of Cisco EPNM, including 7.0.0 through 7.1.3 and various minor releases. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 4.3, reflecting a vulnerability that impacts confidentiality but not integrity or availability. The attack vector is network-based with low attack complexity, and no privileges beyond low-level authentication are needed. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and Cisco has not yet published patches or mitigations at the time of this report. This vulnerability could allow unauthorized disclosure of sensitive network configuration data, which could be leveraged for further attacks or reconnaissance by malicious actors.

For European organizations, the exposure of sensitive network configuration information could have significant operational and security implications. Cisco EPNM is widely used in large enterprise and service provider networks to manage network devices and configurations. Unauthorized access to configuration details could enable attackers to map network topologies, identify critical assets, and plan more sophisticated attacks such as lateral movement or targeted intrusions. While the vulnerability does not allow direct system compromise or denial of service, the confidentiality breach could undermine trust in network management systems and potentially lead to regulatory compliance issues under GDPR if sensitive personal or operational data is exposed. Organizations relying on Cisco EPNM for network orchestration and monitoring should consider this vulnerability a risk to their network security posture, especially if low-privileged user accounts are shared or weakly controlled.

Beyond standard best practices such as applying patches when available, European organizations should implement strict access controls and monitoring on Cisco EPNM instances. Specifically, they should: 1) Restrict low-privileged user accounts to the minimum necessary scope and regularly audit these accounts for unusual activity. 2) Employ network segmentation and firewall rules to limit access to the EPNM management interface only to trusted administrative networks and personnel. 3) Enable detailed logging and alerting on API access to detect anomalous requests that could indicate exploitation attempts. 4) Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users accessing the management interface to reduce the risk of credential compromise. 5) Conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration tests focusing on management interfaces to identify potential abuse of API endpoints. 6) If possible, deploy Cisco EPNM in isolated environments or virtual private networks to reduce exposure to external threats. 7) Stay informed on Cisco advisories for patches or workarounds addressing this vulnerability and apply them promptly once released.