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CVE-2025-20160 is an authentication and confidentiality flaw in the implementation of the TACACS+ protocol in Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software. The vulnerability exists because the device does not properly verify that the required TACACS+ shared secret is configured before processing TACACS+ communications. In deployments where the shared secret is absent, TACACS+ traffic may be handled without the expected cryptographic protection and trust validation. A remote attacker positioned as a machine-in-the-middle can exploit this condition to intercept and read TACACS+ messages or to impersonate a TACACS+ server and return forged authentication responses. Successful exploitation can expose sensitive information contained in TACACS+ exchanges or allow authentication to be bypassed, resulting in unauthorized access to the affected device.
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What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.
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No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.
Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.
Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.
7 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
An access control bypass vulnerability in the TACACS+ protocol implementation affecting Cisco IOS and IOS XE devices.
An access control bypass vulnerability in the TACACS+ protocol implementation affecting Cisco IOS and IOS XE devices.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.