CVE-2020-3118

CRITICALNVD 8.89.0▲
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score elevated to 9.0 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 8.8 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.

Triggered by: CISA KEV (actively exploited)
Sources: cisa_kev, epss, ghsa, nvd
Trending — 4 sources updated this weekExploited in the wild
9.0EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch nowTreat as an emergency — this is being exploited.
  • Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV)
CISA-KEV: ExploitedEPSS PROB: 12%CVSS: 8.8Exploit: cisa kev · ssvc active · epss top5pctExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

A vulnerability in the Cisco Discovery Protocol implementation for Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a reload on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to improper validation of string input from certain fields in Cisco Discovery Protocol messages. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious Cisco Discovery Protocol packet to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a stack overflow, which could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code with administrative privileges on an affected device. Cisco Discovery Protocol is a Layer 2 protocol. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must be in the same broadcast domain as the affected device (Layer 2 adjacent).

CVSS v3
8.8
EG Score
9.0(high)
EG Risk
81(Attend)
EG Risk 81/100SSVC: Attend

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity90% × 45%
Exploitation100% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Remediate soon — notable exploitation risk.
EPSS PROB
12%
EPSS %ILE
96%
KEV
⚠ Exploited

Published

February 5, 2020

Last Modified

October 28, 2025

Advisory Details (3)

Auto-updated Jun 1, 2026
⚠️ Active exploitation confirmed. Patch available. Sources: cisa.
cisa Patch Available🔴 Active Exploitation

Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA

Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA. Listed in CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-3118
generic🔴 Active Exploitation

Cisco IOS XR Software Cisco Discovery Protocol Format String Vulnerability

https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20200205-iosxr-cdp-rce
generic

Packet Storm

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156203/Cisco-Discovery-Protocol-CDP-Remote-Device-Takeover.html

Weakness Classification(2)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 43× in last 7d / 218× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 440 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-07-27 20:36 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-07-27 19:24 UTCCISA KEV update
  3. 2026-07-27 17:17 UTCCISA KEV update
  4. 2026-07-27 16:15 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-07-27 16:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-07-27 12:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-07-27 07:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-07-27 03:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-07-26 23:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-07-26 19:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-07-26 14:58 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-07-26 14:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-07-26 14:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-07-26 10:46 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-07-26 10:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-07-26 06:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-07-26 02:19 UTCEG score recompute
  18. 2026-07-26 02:19 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-07-25 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-07-24 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-07-23 01:52 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-07-22 22:12 UTCEG score recompute
  25. 2026-07-22 22:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-07-22 19:40 UTCCISA KEV update
  2. 2026-07-22 18:00 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-07-22 18:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-07-22 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-22 13:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-07-22 09:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-07-22 05:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-07-22 01:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-07-21 20:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-07-21 16:43 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-07-21 16:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-07-21 14:37 UTCCISA KEV update
  15. 2026-07-21 12:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-07-21 08:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-07-21 04:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-07-20 23:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-07-20 19:40 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-07-20 19:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-07-20 15:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-07-20 11:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-07-20 07:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
  26. 2026-07-20 02:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  27. 2026-07-19 22:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  28. 2026-07-19 18:26 UTCEG score recompute
  29. 2026-07-19 18:26 UTCGHSA enrichment
  30. 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-07-19 14:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  33. 2026-07-19 10:01 UTCGHSA enrichment
  34. 2026-07-19 05:49 UTCEG score recompute
  35. 2026-07-19 05:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
  36. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-07-19 01:36 UTCGHSA enrichment
  39. 2026-07-18 21:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  40. 2026-07-18 17:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  41. 2026-07-18 12:59 UTCEG score recompute
  42. 2026-07-18 12:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
  43. 2026-07-18 08:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
  44. 2026-07-18 04:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  45. 2026-07-18 00:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
  46. 2026-07-17 20:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
  47. 2026-07-17 15:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
  48. 2026-07-17 11:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
  49. 2026-07-17 07:33 UTCEG score recompute
  50. 2026-07-17 07:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  51. 2026-07-17 03:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  52. 2026-07-16 23:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
  53. 2026-07-16 18:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
  54. 2026-07-16 17:04 UTCCISA KEV update
  55. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-07-16 14:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  57. 2026-07-16 10:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
  58. 2026-07-16 06:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
  59. 2026-07-16 02:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
  60. 2026-07-15 21:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  61. 2026-07-15 17:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  62. 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  63. 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  64. 2026-07-15 16:49 UTCCISA KEV update
  65. 2026-07-15 15:04 UTCCISA KEV update
  66. 2026-07-15 13:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  67. 2026-07-15 09:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  68. 2026-07-15 05:04 UTCGHSA enrichment
  69. 2026-07-15 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  70. 2026-07-15 00:51 UTCGHSA enrichment
  71. 2026-07-14 20:39 UTCGHSA enrichment
  72. 2026-07-14 18:05 UTCCISA KEV update
  73. 2026-07-14 16:26 UTCGHSA enrichment
  74. 2026-07-14 12:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  75. 2026-07-14 08:01 UTCGHSA enrichment

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Frequently asked(6)

What is CVE-2020-3118?
CVE-2020-3118 is a critical vulnerability published on February 5, 2020. A vulnerability in the Cisco Discovery Protocol implementation for Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a reload on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to improper validation of string input from certain fields in Cisco…
When was CVE-2020-3118 disclosed?
CVE-2020-3118 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on February 5, 2020, with the most recent update on October 28, 2025. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2020-3118 actively exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2020-3118 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on November 3, 2021, affecting Cisco IOS XR. KEV listing indicates confirmed exploitation in the wild; this CVE warrants immediate patching attention.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-3118?
CVE-2020-3118 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.8 (NVD). EchelonGraph synthesises NVD + CISA KEV + FIRST EPSS + GHSA into a combined EG score of 9.0.
Which products are affected by CVE-2020-3118?
CVE-2020-3118 affects Cisco IOS XR. The full affected-products list, including version ranges and fixed versions, is shown in the Affected Packages section of this page.
How do I remediate CVE-2020-3118?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2020-3118, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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