Cisco rolled out a vital vulnerability patch for specific small business routers, according to a Cisco security advisory released Wednesday. The patch applies to vulnerability CVE-2021-1287, which ranks as a 7.2 (considered a “High” rank) on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System. CVE-2021-1287 allows for an authenticated attacker to remotely execute damaging arbitrary code. Additionally, it allows an attacker to restart the target device or perform denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. The vulnerability was reported to Cisco by Shizhi He of Wuhan University.
There are two primary Cisco small business routers that this patched vulnerability affects. The first is RV132W ADSL2+ Wireless-N VPN Routers (running a firmware release earlier than Release 1.0.1.15). The second is RV134W VDSL2 Wireless-AC VPN Routers (running a firmware release earlier than Release 1.0.1.2).
In the security advisory, Cisco explains how CVE-2021-1287 is exploited:
The vulnerability exists because the web-based management interface does not properly validate user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted HTTP requests to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code as the root user on the underlying operating system or cause the device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition on the affected device.
Cisco was adamant in the security advisory that no workarounds exist for this vulnerability, and for that reason, patching ASAP is advised. To download the updates go to the Software Center on Cisco.com, select Browse all, then select Routers > Small Business Routers > Small Business RV Series Routers, and find the router model you are trying to patch.
This is just one of many patches that Cisco has rolled out for vulnerabilities in varying severity in 2021. This year has already been a busy time for cybersecurity professionals, and it is only going to get more complicated from here.
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