VulnerabilityPublished 14 Jan 2025Updated 3 Nov 2025

CVE-2025-23018: IETF IPv6 · Improper Verification of Source of a Communication Channel

Affects IETF IPv6Source CVE Database V5

Mentioned vulnerabilities

CVE-2020-10136

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.4 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.4Medium

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

EPSS: 1.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 63% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: Low
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: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
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: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
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 Jan 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
IETF IPv6	Affected =6	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-23018, European organizations should implement strict ingress and egress filtering on network interfaces that handle IPv6 tunneled traffic, ensuring that only legitimate source addresses are accepted. Network devices and firewalls should be configured to validate the source addresses of tunneled packets, rejecting those that do not match expected or authorized sources. Deploying IPv6-aware intrusion detection and prevention systems can help identify anomalous tunneling traffic indicative of spoofing attempts. Network segmentation and limiting exposure of tunneling endpoints reduce the attack surface. Organizations should monitor network traffic for unusual patterns or unexpected tunneled packets. Where possible, updating network infrastructure firmware and software to versions that incorporate source verification improvements is recommended, even though no patches are currently listed. Collaboration with ISPs and upstream providers to enforce source validation can further reduce risk. Finally, organizations should review and update their IPv6 deployment and transition strategies to minimize reliance on vulnerable tunneling mechanisms or apply alternative secure tunneling protocols that include source verification.

Description

IPv4-in-IPv6 and IPv6-in-IPv6 tunneling (RFC 2473) do not require the validation or verification of the source of a network packet, allowing an attacker to spoof and route arbitrary traffic via an exposed network interface. This is a similar issue to CVE-2020-10136.

Impact

For European organizations, the vulnerability poses a risk to the confidentiality and integrity of network communications that rely on IPv6 tunneling. Organizations using IPv6 transition technologies or tunneling to connect disparate networks may face traffic interception or redirection attacks, potentially exposing sensitive data or enabling further lateral movement within networks. Critical infrastructure sectors such as telecommunications, finance, energy, and government agencies that have adopted IPv6 extensively could be targeted to disrupt or manipulate communications. The medium severity rating reflects that while availability is not directly impacted, the potential for data leakage or unauthorized traffic injection can have significant operational and reputational consequences. Additionally, the high attack complexity may limit exploitation to skilled adversaries with network access, but the lack of required authentication or user interaction means that once access is obtained, exploitation is straightforward. The absence of known exploits currently provides a window for proactive mitigation, but organizations should not delay remediation given the strategic importance of IPv6 in future network architectures.

CWE-940Improper Verification of Source of a Communication Channel (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product establishes a communication channel to handle an incoming request that has been initiated by an actor, but it does not properly verify that the request is coming from the expected origin.
Architecture and Design
Use a mechanism that can validate the identity of the source, such as a certificate, and validate the integrity of data to ensure that it cannot be modified in transit using an Adversary-in-the-Middle (AITM) attack.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.14.1 (opens in a new tab)
V14.5.2 (opens in a new tab)
V14.5.3 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
WebView Injection (opens in a new tab)
Connection Reset (opens in a new tab)
TCP RST Injection (opens in a new tab)
Traffic Injection (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 3 Nov 2025, 21:29 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-940

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats