Exploited CVE from 2017, added in 2022

CVE-2017-5521

NETGEAR Routers (DGN, WNR, Nighthawk) · Home and small-office routers, cameras and IoT

NETGEAR Multiple Devices Exposure of Sensitive Information Vulnerability

At a glance

Exploited. Added to CISA’s catalog of exploited vulnerabilities on September 8, 2022.

Affected product: NETGEAR Routers (DGN, WNR, Nighthawk) (category Home and small-office routers, cameras and IoT, indicative classification). Name in CISA’s catalog: NETGEAR Multiple Devices.

What should I do?

Apply the update from NETGEAR; if none are available, stop using the product.

Deadline set by CISA for US federal agencies: 21 days (due September 29, 2022). It only binds those agencies, but it is a useful measure of urgency.

NETGEAR security advisories page (general page, not the advisory for this vulnerability)
The vendor’s specific advisory is listed in the NVD references: CVE-2017-5521 on the NVD website.

Original text of the required action (CISA)

Apply updates per vendor instructions. If the affected device has since entered end-of-life, it should be disconnected if still in use.

Timeline

January 17, 2017 Vulnerability published Publication date (NVD)
September 8, 2022 Exploitation confirmed Added to CISA’s KEV catalog
September 29, 2022 CISA deadline Remediation deadline set for US federal agencies

The facts, with their sources

Exploitation confirmed: Yes, on September 8, 2022 Date added to the catalog of exploited vulnerabilities. Exploitation itself may have started earlier. Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
Ransomware: No known use to date That does not guarantee it is not being used: the information is not public. Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
Hunt for compromise: Not requested by CISA Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
CISA required action: Apply the update from NETGEAR; if none are available, stop using the product. Rewritten by this site from CISA’s original text. Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
CISA deadline: September 29, 2022, 21 days Set for US federal agencies: a measure of urgency, not an obligation elsewhere. Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
Vulnerability published: January 17, 2017 Source: National Vulnerability Database (NVD), collected September 29, 2026 at 15:00 UTC
Product according to CISA: NETGEAR Multiple Devices Filed by this site under “Home and small-office routers, cameras and IoT” (indicative classification). Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Technical detail of the score: attack vector, complexity, impact. Source: National Vulnerability Database (NVD), collected September 29, 2026 at 15:00 UTC

Severity and activity

8.1 / 10 CVSS severity: high

Score from the NVD. Collected Sep 29, 2026.

— Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS)

FIRST’s EPSS model. Since exploitation is already confirmed, this figure is mostly useful to compare activity. Collected Sep 29, 2026.

Description

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.

Multiple NETGEAR devices are prone to admin password disclosure via simple crafted requests to the web management server.

Summary from CISA (KEV catalog).

CERT-FR advisories

No advisory among the latest CERT-FR publications this site follows. That does not mean there are none.

Information reused under the Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab); the date of last update is shown for each advisory. This site is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by ANSSI.

Sources for this page

CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, required action, deadline, ransomware.
NVD (NIST): CVSS severity, publication date, description, vendor references.
EPSS (FIRST): probability of exploitation.
CERT-FR: advisories and alerts (in French).
Brand and category: indicative classification by this site (method).