Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-1166 affects Cisco Small Business RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers. An attacker with valid administrator credentials could use the web management interface to run code as root or force a device restart. Cisco states it has not released software updates for these vulnerabilities.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority legacy-router risk. No patch is identified in the provided Cisco advisory, so priority should be reducing management exposure, protecting admin access, and planning device replacement or isolation where these routers remain in service.
Technical view
The issue is improper validation of user-supplied input in the routers' web-based management interface, mapped to CWE-121. Exploitation requires network access to the interface and high privileges. Successful exploitation can produce root-level arbitrary code execution or denial of service through device reload.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most relevant where affected RV-series routers remain deployed and their web management interface is reachable by administrators, VPN users, or the internet. Devices with weak, shared, or compromised admin credentials are at higher risk.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation requires valid administrator credentials, but impact is severe because successful abuse can reach root execution or cause router denial of service.
Researcher notes
Do not assume unauthenticated exposure: the advisory states valid administrator credentials are required. The critical operational detail is management-interface reachability plus admin credential control. Evidence is sufficient for affected models, impact, and lack of Cisco software updates, but not for active exploitation.
Mitigation direction
- Check Cisco guidance for current status and recommended actions.
- Restrict management interface access to trusted admin networks only.
- Harden, rotate, and tightly limit administrator credentials.
- Disable unnecessary remote management exposure where operationally possible.
- Plan replacement or compensating controls if no fixed software is available.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Cisco RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W devices.
- Confirm whether web-based management is reachable from untrusted networks.
- Review administrator accounts for shared, stale, or weak credentials.
- Check logs for unexpected management activity or unexplained reloads.
- Track Cisco advisory updates for any later remediation guidance.
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-2021-1166 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.
