Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-1217 affects Cisco Small Business RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers. An attacker with valid administrator credentials could abuse the web management interface to run code as root or force the router to restart. Cisco stated it had not released software updates for these vulnerabilities.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority legacy-router risk if these models remain in production. The main concern is not broad unauthenticated compromise, but the severe impact after administrator credential compromise and the absence of a vendor software update in the provided sources.
Technical view
The issue is in the web-based management interface and stems from improper validation of user-supplied input. Crafted HTTP requests from an authenticated remote administrator can lead to arbitrary code execution as root or denial of service through device reload. CVSS 3.1 is 7.2 with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most relevant where affected Cisco Small Business RV routers are still deployed and their web management interface is reachable by administrators or remote management paths. Risk is lower without administrator credentials, but compromised admin accounts can turn this into full device control.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation requires valid administrator credentials. The CVE description only states that crafted HTTP requests to the affected management interface can trigger code execution or denial of service.
Researcher notes
Focus validation on asset presence, management-plane reachability, and administrative credential exposure. The bundle identifies CWE-121 and improper input validation but does not provide patch details, exploit telemetry, or safe detection signatures. Avoid assuming other Cisco router families are affected.
Mitigation direction
- Check Cisco’s advisory for current vendor guidance and device status.
- Inventory RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers in use.
- Prioritize replacement or retirement where no vendor fix is available.
- Restrict management interface access to trusted administrative networks.
- Review administrator account hygiene and remove unnecessary admin users.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether any affected RV models are deployed.
- Verify management interfaces are not broadly reachable.
- Review administrative access paths and account lists.
- Check logs for unexpected management activity or device reloads.
- Document that Cisco had not released fixes 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
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-2021-1217 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.