Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Cisco Small Business RV016, RV042, RV042G, RV082, RV320, and RV325 routers have management-interface flaws that can let an administrator-level remote attacker run operating system commands as root. The main business risk is full router compromise if valid admin credentials are abused or stolen.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority network-edge risk for any still-deployed affected routers. It is not shown as actively exploited in the provided sources, but successful abuse gives root-level control of the device.
Technical view
CVE-2021-1314 is a set of command injection vulnerabilities in the web-based management interface caused by improper validation of user input. Exploitation requires network access to the management interface and valid administrator credentials. Successful exploitation can execute arbitrary code with root privileges on the underlying router operating system.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where affected Cisco Small Business RV Series routers are still deployed and their web management interface is reachable by administrators over a network. The source bundle does not provide exact vulnerable firmware versions.
Exploitation context
The CVSS 3.1 score is 7.2 because exploitation is network-accessible and high impact, but requires high privileges. The bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or other evidence of active exploitation.
Researcher notes
The key constraints are authenticated administrator access and command execution as root through the web management interface. Affected version detail is incomplete in the provided CVE bundle, so validation should anchor on Cisco’s advisory rather than assumptions.
Mitigation direction
- Identify RV016, RV042, RV042G, RV082, RV320, and RV325 devices in use.
- Check Cisco’s advisory for affected release details and remediation guidance.
- Restrict management-interface reachability to trusted administrative paths.
- Review and harden administrator credential practices for affected routers.
- Replace unsupported or unremediated devices if vendor guidance cannot be applied.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether any listed RV Series models exist in the asset inventory.
- Verify firmware and model applicability against Cisco’s advisory.
- Check whether web management is reachable beyond trusted admin networks.
- Review router admin accounts for unnecessary or stale privileged users.
- Look for unexpected management activity in available router or access logs.
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-20: Exact CWE lookup
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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-2021-1314 mapping review
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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
- 20210203 Cisco Small Business RV Series Routers Management Interface Command Injection 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.
Improper Input Validation
Improper Input Validation represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.