Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This flaw affects several Cisco Small Business RV routers. An attacker who already has administrator credentials could use the web management interface to run code with root privileges or force the router to restart. Cisco’s source material says no software update was released for these vulnerabilities.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority legacy network-device risk where affected routers exist. Because the source says no Cisco software update was released, leadership should focus on inventory, exposure reduction, credential control, and replacement planning rather than waiting for a patch.
Technical view
CVE-2021-1172 covers multiple input-validation issues in the web-based management interface of RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers. The CVSS 3.1 score is 7.2. Exploitation requires network access and high privileges, but successful exploitation can cause root-level code execution or denial of service.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to organizations still operating the named Cisco Small Business RV router models with reachable web-based management. Risk is higher where administrator credentials are shared, weakly protected, or where the management interface is accessible from untrusted networks.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. The known exploitation condition is authenticated remote access with valid administrator credentials, followed by crafted HTTP requests to the management interface. No exploit availability is established by the provided bundle.
Researcher notes
Do not model this as unauthenticated RCE. The CVSS vector requires high privileges. The bundle does not provide affected firmware version ranges, CPEs, workaround details, or evidence of exploitation in the wild. Validation should focus on product presence, management-plane reachability, and administrator access paths.
Mitigation direction
- Check Cisco’s advisory for current vendor guidance and product lifecycle direction.
- Inventory for RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers.
- Prioritize replacement or removal where these routers remain in production.
- Restrict management access to trusted administrators and trusted management paths.
- Review administrator credential hygiene for affected devices.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether any named Cisco RV router models are deployed.
- Verify whether their web management interfaces are reachable remotely.
- Review who has valid administrator credentials for each device.
- Check logs or monitoring for unexpected device reloads.
- Document that Cisco did not release a software update in the provided advisory.
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
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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-2021-1172 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.