CVE-2023-1389TP-Link Archer AX21 (AX1800) firmware versions before 1.1.4 Build 20230219 contained a command injection vulnerability in the country form…
- 8.8HighCVSS base score
- 100.0%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.1% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 1 May 2023
- 2Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
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.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as TP-Link Archer AX-21 Command Injection Vulnerability.
- Added
- 1 May 2023
- Fix due (US federal)
- 22 May 2023
- Used by ransomware
- Not known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 1 May 2023.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Nuclei template and an Exploit-DB entry for it. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits2
Nuclei templates1 template
- TP-Link Archer AX21 (AX1800) - Unauthenticated Command Injection (Nuclei template) (opens in a new tab)
http/cves/2023/CVE-2023-1389.yamlSeverity critical
Exploit-DB1 entry
- TP-Link Archer AX21 - Unauthenticated Command Injection (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 51677remote, hardwarepublished 10 Aug 2023Not verified
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By tenable
- 1 day later
· 1 day later
Published
- 47 days later
· 47 days later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited in the wild
- 2 years later
· 2 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | High8.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High8.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 100.0% · top 0.1% of all CVEs (12 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.8.
Affected products
TP-Link Archer AX21 (AX1800)
- affected All versions prior to version 1.14 Build 20230219
References
References3
- https://www.tenable.com/security/research/tra-2023-11 (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174131/TP-Link-Archer-AX21-Command-Injection.html (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2023-1389 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2023-23645 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2023-1389)Record last updated .