Linksys Wrt54gx Router FirmwareApplication · Cisco

CVE-2011-4500

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2011-11-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
The UPnP IGD implementation on the Cisco Linksys WRT54GX with firmware 2.00.05, when UPnP is enabled, configures the SOAP server to listen on the WAN port, which allows remote attackers to administer the firewall via SOAP requests.

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 confidence

The Cisco Linksys WRT54GX firmware 2.00.05 incorrectly configures the UPnP IGD SOAP server to listen on the WAN (external) interface when UPnP is enabled. This exposes the UPnP management interface to the public internet, allowing remote attackers to send SOAP requests to manipulate firewall rules and potentially bypass security controls.

MitigationDisable UPnP on the affected device if not required, or apply any available firmware update. At minimum, block inbound SOAP/UPnP traffic (port 5555 typically) at the WAN interface using external firewall rules.

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 data
Linksys Wrt54gx Router FirmwareApplication
Affected:= 2.00.05
Wrt54gxHardware / appliance
Affected:= 2.0

CVSS 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
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify router model
    Check the device label or web interface to confirm it is a Cisco Linksys WRT54GX router
    Affected if Device is not a Linksys WRT54GX model
  2. Check firmware version
    Access the router web interface (typically at 192.168.1.1) and navigate to Administration > Firmware Upgrade or Status page to view the firmware version
    Affected if Firmware version is 2.00.05 or 2.0
  3. Verify UPnP is enabled
    In the router web interface, go to Administration > UPnP and check if UPnP is turned on
    Affected if UPnP is enabled on the device
  4. Confirm UPnP WAN accessibility
    From an external network (not behind the router), use a port scanner or netcat to attempt a TCP connection to port 5555 on the router's public WAN IP address: nc -zv <WAN_IP> 5555
    Affected if Port 5555 (or the configured UPnP SOAP port) is open and reachable from the WAN/internet

A user is affected if they own a Linksys WRT54GX router running firmware 2.00.05 or 2.0 with UPnP enabled and the UPnP SOAP service is exposed on the WAN interface (port 5555 accessible from the internet).

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Disable UPnP on the affected device if not required, or apply any available firmware update. At minimum, block inbound SOAP/UPnP traffic (port 5555 typically) at the WAN interface using external firewall rules.

Fix this in Linksys Wrt54gx Router Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2011-4500 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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