Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This is a post-login memory corruption flaw in several older NETGEAR routers and gateways. An already authenticated user could potentially disrupt the device or affect confidentiality and integrity. The business risk is highest where legacy routers remain deployed with outdated firmware or broadly accessible administration.
Executive priority
Treat this as a targeted legacy-device remediation item, not an internet-wide emergency based on the provided evidence. Prioritize locations where affected routers protect sensitive networks or have shared administrative access.
Technical view
CVE-2018-21193 is a stack-based buffer overflow affecting listed NETGEAR models before specified firmware versions. The CVSS vector indicates adjacent-network access, low attack complexity, high privileges, no user interaction, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in environments still using the listed NETGEAR D6100, D7800, R-series, WNDR-series, or WNR2000v5 devices on older firmware. Risk depends on who can authenticate and reach device administration paths.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation evidence. The vulnerability is post-authentication and high-privilege, which reduces opportunistic risk but still matters for insider, compromised-admin, or poorly segmented networks.
Researcher notes
The source bundle provides affected models, fixed-version thresholds, CVSS data, and the NETGEAR advisory reference. It does not provide vulnerable endpoint details, CWE mapping, proof-of-concept status, or observed exploitation evidence.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade each listed NETGEAR model to the stated fixed firmware version or later.
- Remove unsupported or unpatchable devices from production networks.
- Restrict router administration to trusted management networks and authorized administrators.
- Review NETGEAR advisory PSV-2017-2602 for model-specific firmware guidance.
Validation and detection
- Inventory for affected NETGEAR models named in the CVE record.
- Compare firmware versions against the affected-before versions in the CVE description.
- Confirm administrative interfaces are not reachable from untrusted network segments.
- Check whether compensating access controls cover legacy devices pending upgrade.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2018-21193 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.8 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AC:L/AV:A/A:H/C:H/I:H/PR:H/S:U/UI:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.0/AC:L/AV:A/A:H/C:H/I:H/PR:H/S:U/UI:N0.95.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
6.8MediumVector: CVSS:3.0/AC:L/AV:A/A:H/C:H/I:H/PR:H/S:U/UI:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://kb.netgear.com/000055164/Security-Advisory-for-Post-Authentication-Stack-Overflow-on-Some-Routers-and-Gateways-PSV-2017-2602CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.