Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This affects several Cisco Small Business RV routers. An attacker who already has administrator credentials could use the web management interface to run code as root or force the router to restart. Cisco had not released software updates in the provided sources, so affected devices should be treated as high-risk infrastructure.
Executive priority
Prioritize inventory and replacement planning for affected routers. The issue is high severity because compromise could give root control of network edge equipment, but urgency depends on whether affected devices remain deployed and how management access is restricted.
Technical view
CVE-2021-1201 is an authenticated remote command execution and denial-of-service issue in the web-based management interface of Cisco RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers. The root cause is improper validation of user-supplied input. Exploitation requires valid administrator credentials and crafted HTTP requests.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to organizations still running the named Cisco Small Business RV router models, especially where the management interface is reachable by administrators over a network. The source bundle does not provide affected firmware version ranges.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. Exploitation requires valid administrator credentials, but successful exploitation can provide root-level code execution or cause device reload and denial of service.
Researcher notes
Key constraints are important: remote network attack vector, low complexity, high privileges required, no user interaction, unchanged scope, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact. The provided data maps the weakness to CWE-121 and states no Cisco software update was released.
Mitigation direction
- Check Cisco’s advisory for current vendor guidance before making changes.
- Identify any RV110W, RV130, RV130W, or RV215W routers in use.
- Treat replacement or retirement as likely necessary if no update exists.
- Restrict web management access to trusted administrative networks only.
- Review administrator accounts and remove unnecessary credentials.
Validation and detection
- Confirm router model and firmware through asset records or management UI.
- Verify whether the web management interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
- Review admin account inventory for shared, stale, or unnecessary credentials.
- Check change records for any vendor-supported mitigation or replacement action.
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-2021-1201 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.
