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Known exploited vulnerability

CVE-2017-5521

highCVSS 3.1 8.1In CISA KEVEPSS 89%Published · n/a

The short answer

CVE-2017-5521 affects n/a n/a and is rated high (CVSS 8.1). CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-09-08: attackers are using it, so patch it first.

What it is

An issue was discovered on NETGEAR R8500, R8300, R7000, R6400, R7300, R7100LG, R6300v2, WNDR3400v3, WNR3500Lv2, R6250, R6700, R6900, and R8000 devices. They are prone to password disclosure via simple crafted requests to the web management server. The bug is exploitable remotely if the remote management option is set, and can also be exploited given access to the router over LAN or WLAN. When trying to access the web panel, a user is asked to authenticate; if the authentication is canceled and password recovery is not enabled, the user is redirected to a page that exposes a password recovery token. If a user supplies the correct token to the page /passwordrecovered.cgi?id=TOKEN (and password recovery is not enabled), they will receive the admin password for the router. If password recovery is set the exploit will fail, as it will ask the user for the recovery questions that were previously set when enabling that feature. This is persistent (even after disabling the recovery option, the exploit will fail) because the router will ask for the security questions.

Severity

8.1 high

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploited (CISA KEV)

Yes, since Sep 8, 2022

Federal due date Sep 29, 2022

EPSS, next 30 days

89%

Higher than 100% of scored CVEs

How it can be exploited

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

What CISA says to do

Apply updates per vendor instructions. If the affected device has since entered end-of-life, it should be disconnected if still in use.

Affected products

n/a. NVD's record lists the exact affected versions.

References

Questions

Is CVE-2017-5521 being exploited?

Yes. CISA added CVE-2017-5521 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-09-08, with a federal remediation due date of 2022-09-29.

How do I fix CVE-2017-5521?

CISA's required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions. If the affected device has since entered end-of-life, it should be disconnected if still in use.

From NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS and OSV.dev, checked . Status on NVD: Analyzed. The description is NVD's text, quoted as published.

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