Assessment
Why it matters
CISA lists this vulnerability as known to be exploited; exploitation is confirmed; EPSS is 100.0%; technical severity is CVSS 8.8.
TP-Link Archer AX21 (AX1800) firmware versions before 1.1.4 Build 20230219 contained a command injection vulnerability in the country form of the /cgi-bin/luci;stok=/locale endpoint on the web management interface. Specifically, the country parameter of the write operation was not sanitized before being used in a call to popen(), allowing an unauthenticated attacker to inject commands, which would be run as root, with a simple POST request.
Who should care
- Teams operating Archer AX21, Archer Ax21 Firmware
- Vulnerability and exposure management teams
- Security operations teams monitoring exploitation activity
Response plan
What I would do
- Confirm whether Archer AX21, Archer Ax21 Firmware is present in the environment.
- Identify affected versions and establish whether vulnerable services are exposed or reachable.
- Apply updates per vendor instructions.
- Review relevant security telemetry for evidence of attempted or successful exploitation.
- Document the remediation decision and track it to verified completion.
Vendor remediation
Patch and remediation links
Use the vendor source below to confirm the correct fixed version, package or mitigation for your affected product.
Technical details
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CWE
- CWE-77
- Affected versions
- TP-Link Archer AX21; TP-Link Archer Ax21 Firmware (End Excluding: 1.1.4)
- Published
- 15 March 2023
- Attack vector
- Adjacent
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
Signal timeline
- CVE published
- Added to CISA KEV
- Latest EPSS score: 100.0%
- Signal calculated at 84