Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Authenticated administrators, or attackers who obtain administrator credentials, could compromise certain Cisco Small Business RV routers through the web management interface. Successful exploitation can run code as root or restart the router, causing outage. Cisco stated it had not released software updates for these vulnerabilities.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority lifecycle and exposure issue for affected branch or small-office routers. The attacker needs admin credentials, but the outcome can be full device compromise or outage, and Cisco reported no software updates.
Technical view
CVE-2021-1216 covers improper validation of user-supplied input in the web-based management interface of Cisco RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers. Crafted HTTP requests from an authenticated remote administrator can trigger arbitrary code execution as root or denial of service. CVSS 3.1 is 7.2, PR:H.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where affected RV-series routers remain deployed and their management interface is reachable by users with administrator credentials. Risk depends heavily on admin account security and management-plane reachability.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show known active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked KEV. Exploitation requires valid administrator credentials and crafted HTTP requests to the management interface.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE record and Cisco advisory metadata in the provided bundle. Do not claim unauthenticated access, public exploitation, or fixed versions from these sources. The core exposure condition is authenticated access to the web management interface.
Mitigation direction
- Check Cisco advisory for current vendor guidance and lifecycle status.
- Inventory RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers in production.
- Do not assume a software update exists for this CVE.
- Restrict management access to trusted administrative paths as a compensating control.
- Review and protect administrator credentials on affected devices.
- Plan replacement or retirement if vendor guidance offers no update path.
Validation and detection
- Confirm model numbers and firmware families for all small business routers.
- Identify whether web-based management is reachable from untrusted networks.
- Review administrative account inventory and recent management logins.
- Check change records for unexpected router reloads or configuration changes.
- Track Cisco advisory status before closing remediation work.
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-2021-1216 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.
