CVE-2008-1265
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe Linksys WRT54G router allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (device restart) via a long username and password to the FTP interface.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe Linksys WRT54G router contains a denial of service vulnerability in its FTP server component. Remote attackers can trigger a device restart by submitting excessively long username and password strings to the FTP authentication interface, causing the firmware to crash and reboot.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE dataall versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the router modelLog into the router web interface (typically 192.168.1.1) and check the Status or Administration page for the hardware model name and version. Alternatively, check the physical device label on the bottom of the router.Affected if The device model is Linksys WRT54G (any variant)
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Confirm the firmware versionIn the router web interface, navigate to the Administration or Status page and locate the firmware version number displayed.Affected if The firmware version is any version (this CVE affects all versions of the WRT54G)
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Verify if FTP server is enabledIn the router web interface, go to the Applications & Gaming or Port Forwarding section and look for FTP server settings. Alternatively, attempt to connect to TCP port 21 on the router's WAN IP address using an FTP client or netcat.Affected if FTP server is enabled and accessible (the vulnerability only triggers when the FTP service is running)
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Check FTP service accessibilityUse a network scanner or the command 'telnet <router_ip> 21' or 'nc -zv <router_ip> 21' to test if port 21 is open and responding on the router.Affected if Port 21 is open and the FTP service is reachable (internal or external network)
You are affected if you are using a Linksys WRT54G router with the FTP server feature enabled and accessible on your network.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataDisable the FTP service on the router if not required; if FTP access is necessary, implement network-level access controls (firewall rules, VLAN segmentation) to restrict FTP access to trusted internal hosts only, and monitor for repeated authentication attempts.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-1265 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-1265 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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