Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This is a memory-handling flaw in some NETGEAR routers. If an organization uses affected firmware, a highly privileged attacker on an adjacent network could cause significant disruption and limited integrity impact. The sources do not show public active exploitation or CISA KEV listing.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate operational risk. It is not sourced as actively exploited, but affected routers should be updated during the next maintenance window, especially where outages would affect business operations.
Technical view
CVE-2021-38517 describes out-of-bounds reads and writes affecting NETGEAR R6400, RAX75, RAX80, and XR300 firmware before specified fixed versions. CVSS 3.1 is 6.9 with adjacent-network attack vector, high privileges required, no user interaction, changed scope, low integrity impact, and high availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure appears limited to organizations running the named NETGEAR router models below fixed firmware levels: R6400 before 1.0.1.70, RAX75/RAX80 before 1.0.4.120, and XR300 before 1.0.3.50.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not report active exploitation, exploit availability, or KEV inclusion. CVSS indicates exploitation would require adjacent-network access and high privileges, reducing broad internet-scale risk but leaving unmanaged local networks exposed.
Researcher notes
The structured affected-products field in the bundle is not populated, so the named models and versions come from the CVE description and NETGEAR advisory reference. No CWE is provided. Main impact signal is availability, with limited integrity impact and no confidentiality impact in CVSS.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade R6400 firmware to 1.0.1.70 or later.
- Upgrade RAX75 and RAX80 firmware to 1.0.4.120 or later.
- Upgrade XR300 firmware to 1.0.3.50 or later.
- Review the NETGEAR advisory for model-specific firmware guidance.
- Prioritize replacement if affected devices cannot be updated.
Validation and detection
- Inventory NETGEAR R6400, RAX75, RAX80, and XR300 devices.
- Compare installed firmware versions against the fixed versions listed by NETGEAR.
- Confirm updated devices report the expected firmware version after maintenance.
- Check whether affected routers exist on sensitive or shared local networks.
- Document any unsupported or unpatched devices for risk acceptance or replacement.
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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CVE-2021-38517 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.9 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AC:L/AV:A/A:H/C:N/I:L/PR:H/S:C/UI:N
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/AC:L/AV:A/A:H/C:N/I:L/PR:H/S:C/UI:N1.74.7Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6.9MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AC:L/AV:A/A:H/C:N/I:L/PR:H/S:C/UI:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://kb.netgear.com/000063772/Security-Advisory-for-Out-of-Bounds-Read-and-Write-on-Some-Routers-PSV-2019-0187CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
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.