Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-1165 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 the router to restart. Cisco reported no software updates for these vulnerabilities.
Executive priority
Treat this as high priority for any remaining affected routers in production. The main business concern is full router compromise or outage after administrator credential misuse, with no Cisco software update identified in the provided sources.
Technical view
The issue is improper validation of user-supplied input in the web-based management interface, associated with CWE-121. Crafted HTTP requests from an authenticated remote administrator can trigger arbitrary code execution with root privileges or denial of service through device reload. CVSS v3.1 is 7.2, with high privileges required and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to organizations still using the listed Cisco Small Business RV router models, especially where the web management interface is reachable by administrators over a network. Exploitation requires valid administrator credentials, so credential compromise materially changes risk.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. Public evidence in the bundle supports authenticated remote exploitation by crafted HTTP requests, but not unauthenticated exploitation or a vendor patch.
Researcher notes
Keep analysis scoped to the named router models and authenticated administrator attack path. The source bundle supports root-level code execution and DoS impacts, but does not establish active exploitation, unauthenticated reachability, or a patch. Avoid assuming firmware versions beyond the advisory scope.
Mitigation direction
- Check Cisco's advisory for any current product-specific guidance.
- Restrict management interface access to trusted administrative networks only.
- Review administrator accounts and remove unnecessary privileged access.
- Plan replacement or decommissioning where risk is unacceptable.
- Monitor for unexpected router reloads or suspicious administrative activity.
Validation and detection
- Inventory for RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers.
- Confirm whether the web management interface is enabled and network-reachable.
- Verify who has valid administrator credentials on affected devices.
- Compare device status against Cisco's advisory and internal asset records.
- Review logs for unexpected reloads or unusual management requests.
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-2021-1165 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.