Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This flaw affects Cisco Small Business RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers. An attacker who already has administrator credentials could abuse the web management interface to run code as root or force a reboot. Cisco states it has not released software updates for these vulnerabilities.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority legacy router exposure issue. The biggest business concern is that compromised administrator access could become root-level control of an edge device, with outage potential. Since Cisco has not released updates in the provided advisory, prioritize access reduction and lifecycle decisions.
Technical view
CVE-2021-1164 is an authenticated remote command execution and denial-of-service issue in the routers' web-based management interface. It stems from improper validation of user-supplied input, mapped to CWE-121. CVSS 3.1 is 7.2, with network access, low complexity, high privileges required, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where the listed legacy Cisco Small Business RV routers remain deployed and their management interface is reachable by administrators over the network. Risk increases if administrator credentials are shared, weak, reused, or exposed. Devices not in the affected model list are not supported by the provided evidence.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked as KEV. Exploitation requires valid administrator credentials and crafted HTTP requests to the management interface. Successful exploitation could provide root-level code execution or cause an unexpected reload and service interruption.
Researcher notes
Do not assume unauthenticated exploitation. The source data requires valid administrator credentials. The vulnerability sits in HTTP handling for the web management interface and can affect code execution and availability. Public evidence provided here does not include exploit-in-the-wild confirmation or a vendor patch.
Mitigation direction
- Check Cisco guidance because no software update is named in the sources.
- Restrict router management access to trusted administrative networks only.
- Disable unnecessary remote management paths where operationally possible.
- Audit and rotate administrator credentials for affected routers.
- Plan replacement or retirement if Cisco provides no supported fix.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Cisco RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers.
- Confirm whether each device exposes the web management interface.
- Review administrator accounts for weak, shared, or stale credentials.
- Check device logs and uptime for unexpected reloads.
- Compare findings against the Cisco advisory and CVE record.
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.
CWE-121: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupExecution behavior lookup
The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-1164 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
- High
- CVSS
- 7.2 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H1.25.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.2HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20210113 Cisco Small Business RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W Routers Management Interface Remote Command Execution and Denial of Service VulnerabilitiesCVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_CISCO
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.
Stack-based Buffer Overflow
Stack-based Buffer Overflow represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
