CVE-2017-5521
Multiple NETGEAR devices are prone to admin password disclosure via simple crafted requests to the web management server.
An issue was discovered on NETGEAR R8500, R8300, R7000, R6400, R7300, R7100LG, R6300v2, WNDR3400v3, WNR3500Lv2, R6250, R6700, R6900, and R8000 devices. They are prone to password disclosure via simple crafted requests to the web management server. The bug is exploitable remotely if the remote management option is set, and can also be exploited given access to the router over LAN or WLAN. When trying to access the web panel, a user is asked to authenticate; if the authentication is canceled and password recovery is not enabled, the user is redirected to a page that exposes a password recovery token. If a user supplies the correct token to the page /passwordrecovered.cgi?id=TOKEN (and password recovery is not enabled), they will receive the admin password for the router. If password recovery is set the exploit will fail, as it will ask the user for the recovery questions that were previously set when enabling that feature. This is persistent (even after disabling the recovery option, the exploit will fail) because the router will ask for the security questions.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H- kb.netgear.com/30632/Web-GUI-Password-Recovery-and-Exposure-Security-VulnerabilityVendor Advisory
- securityfocus.com/bid/95457Broken LinkThird Party Advisory
- exploit-db.com/exploits/41205/ExploitThird Party Advisory
- cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2017-5521US Government Resource
Actively exploited. Patch immediately.
- Exploitation
- Confirmed in the wild (CISA KEV)
- Federal remediation deadline
- Overdue by 1488 days
- CVSS
- 8.1 HIGH
- EPSS (30-day exploit probability)
- 89.4% · top 1% of all CVEs
- Weakness
- NVD-CWE-noinfo
- Attack vector
- Network, remotely reachable
- Preconditions
- No privileges and no user interaction
- 1.Apply updates per vendor instructions. If the affected device has since entered end-of-life, it should be disconnected if still in use.
- 2.Treat as emergency change: patch or isolate internet-facing instances first.
- 3.Review exposure: confirm which instances are reachable from the internet and restrict access until patched.
- 4.Hunt for compromise: review logs for the disclosure window, not just from the patch date.
Assessment is derived automatically from the live signals above; verify against your own asset inventory.