CVE-2021-1348 in RV016
Summary
by MITRE • 02/05/2021
Multiple vulnerabilities in the web-based management interface of Cisco Small Business RV016, RV042, RV042G, RV082, RV320, and RV325 Routers could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause an affected device to restart unexpectedly. These vulnerabilities are due to improper validation of user-supplied input in the web-based management interface. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by sending crafted HTTP requests to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code as the root user on the underlying operating system or cause the device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. To exploit these vulnerabilities, an attacker would need to have valid administrator credentials on the affected device.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/24/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2021-1348 represents a critical security flaw affecting several Cisco Small Business routers including the RV016, RV042, RV042G, RV082, RV320, and RV325 models. This issue stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms within the web-based management interface of these network devices, creating a pathway for authenticated remote attackers to compromise the affected systems. The vulnerability is particularly concerning as it affects enterprise-grade networking equipment that serves as fundamental components of corporate network infrastructure, potentially exposing organizations to significant operational risks.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in improper validation of user-supplied input within the web interface components of these routers. When administrators access the device management interface through HTTP requests, the system fails to adequately sanitize or validate the data submitted by users, creating opportunities for malicious input to be processed without proper security checks. This weakness allows an attacker with valid administrative credentials to craft specially designed HTTP requests that can bypass normal input validation procedures. According to CWE classification, this vulnerability maps to CWE-20, which describes "Improper Input Validation" as a fundamental software security weakness that enables various attack vectors including code execution and system compromise.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted, presenting attackers with two primary exploitation pathways. The first pathway allows for arbitrary code execution with root privileges on the underlying operating system, effectively granting attackers complete control over the router's functionality and potentially enabling them to establish persistent backdoors or exfiltrate sensitive network information. The second pathway results in unexpected device reboots, creating denial of service conditions that can disrupt network connectivity and potentially cause cascading failures in network infrastructure. These impacts align with ATT&CK framework techniques such as T1059.007 for command and script interpreter and T1498 for network denial of service, demonstrating how this vulnerability can be leveraged for both system compromise and availability disruption.
Given that exploitation requires valid administrator credentials, the vulnerability primarily affects organizations with insufficient credential management practices or those where administrative accounts have been compromised through other means. The attack surface is limited to authenticated sessions, but the privilege escalation potential makes this particularly dangerous in environments where administrative access is maintained by a small number of users or where credentials are weakly protected. Organizations should consider implementing additional security controls such as multi-factor authentication for administrative access, regular credential rotation, and network segmentation to limit the potential impact of credential compromise. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of validating all user inputs in web applications and highlights the necessity of following secure coding practices that prevent injection attacks and privilege escalation scenarios.