CVE-2022-20758 | Cisco IOS XR Software Border Gateway Protocol Ethernet VPN Denial of Service Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the implementation of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Ethernet VPN (EVPN) functionality in Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to the incorrect processing of a BGP update message that contains specific EVPN attributes. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a BGP update message that contains specific EVPN attributes. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must control a BGP speaker that has an established trusted peer connection to an affected device that is configured with the address family L2VPN EVPN to receive and process the update message. This vulnerability cannot be exploited by any data that is initiated by clients on the Layer 2 network or by peers that are not configured to accept the L2VPN EVPN address family. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the BGP process to restart unexpectedly, resulting in a DoS condition. The Cisco implementation of BGP accepts incoming BGP updates only from explicitly defined peers. For this vulnerability to be exploited, the malicious BGP update message must either come from a configured, valid BGP peer or be injected by the attacker into the affected BGP network on an existing, valid TCP connection to a BGP peer.

Published: 2022-04-15 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-20758 is rated Moderate Risk (47.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.36%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-20758

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-11-21 0.50% 0.36% -0.14%
2 2025-11-18 0.36% 0.50% +0.14%
3 2025-10-09 0.36%

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-20758

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.2 4.0 [email protected]
6.8 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.2 4.0 [email protected]
7.1 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
8.6 6.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-20758

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-20758

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cisco ios_xr < 6.8.2 cpe:2.3:o:cisco:ios_xr:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco ios_xr >= 7.0, < 7.3.2 cpe:2.3:o:cisco:ios_xr:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco ios_xr >= 7.4, < 7.4.2 cpe:2.3:o:cisco:ios_xr:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-20758

cvelogic Threat Intelligence