Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This issue affects older Cisco Small Business RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers. A remote attacker with valid administrator credentials could take full control of the device or force it to restart. Cisco's source says no software updates were released for these vulnerabilities.
Executive priority
Treat this as high priority for environments still using these routers, especially at network edges or remote offices. The business concern is device takeover or outage with no named patch in the source bundle, making exposure reduction and lifecycle decisions more important than routine patching.
Technical view
The vulnerabilities are in the web-based management interface and stem from improper validation of user-supplied input, mapped to CWE-121. Crafted HTTP requests from an authenticated administrator context can execute arbitrary code as root on the router operating system or trigger a reload causing denial of service.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where affected Cisco Small Business RV-series routers are still deployed and their management interface is reachable over a network. Risk rises if administrator credentials are shared, reused, weak, or compromised. The bundle does not identify affected firmware versions beyond the product family.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation evidence. Exploitation requires valid administrator credentials and network access to the web management interface. Successful exploitation could provide root-level control or cause service disruption through device reloads.
Researcher notes
Validation should focus on asset identification, management-plane reachability, credential exposure, and operational logs. Do not assume unauthenticated exploitation: the Cisco description requires valid administrator credentials. Evidence is incomplete for exact vulnerable firmware versions and any vendor-provided workaround beyond the advisory.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory Cisco RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers.
- Check Cisco's advisory for current vendor guidance and support status.
- Restrict management interface access to trusted administration networks only.
- Review and rotate router administrator credentials where exposure is possible.
- Plan risk-based replacement where no vendor update is available.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether affected router models exist in the environment.
- Verify web management interfaces are not broadly network reachable.
- Review administrator account lists and recent administrative access records.
- Check for unexpected router reloads or management activity.
- Document that Cisco reported no software updates for this issue.
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-2021-1197 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.