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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 29 Jan 2024.
Dsl 2750b FirmwareOperating system · Dlink

CVE-2016-20017

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-10-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.05 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
D-Link DSL-2750B devices before 1.05 allow remote unauthenticated command injection via the login.cgi cli parameter, as exploited in the wild in 2016 through 2022.

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 D-Link DSL-2750B router contains a critical command injection vulnerability in the login.cgi component. Specifically, the 'cli' parameter allows remote attackers to inject and execute arbitrary operating system commands without authentication, granting full control over the affected device.

MitigationUpgrade D-Link DSL-2750B firmware to version 1.05 or later. If the device is end-of-life and no firmware update is available, immediately retire or isolate the device from untrusted networks and implement compensating controls such as strict 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
Dsl 2750b FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< 1.05

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 device model
    Access the router's web interface or check the device label to confirm the model is D-Link DSL-2750B
    Affected if Device is not a D-Link DSL-2750B
  2. Check firmware version
    Log into the router web interface and navigate to the status or firmware upgrade page to view the current firmware version. Alternatively, check the header of any firmware file or the device label.
    Affected if Firmware version is below 1.05 (for example, 1.04, 1.03, etc.)
  3. Verify web interface is accessible
    Attempt to access the router's web interface over HTTP/HTTPS from the network. The vulnerability exists in the login.cgi script accessible via the web interface.
    Affected if The web management interface is reachable from a network where untrusted users could send requests
  4. Test for vulnerable endpoint
    If the web interface is accessible, send a request to http://[router-ip]/login.cgi with a cli parameter containing a simple test command (e.g., cli=`whoami`). Note: This is an intrusive check and may disrupt the device.
    Affected if The router responds to unauthenticated requests containing the cli parameter

If the device is a D-Link DSL-2750B with firmware version below 1.05 and the web interface is network-accessible, the device is affected by this vulnerability.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.05 or later
Fixed in 1.05
Vendor patch supportannouncement.us.dlink.com →
Interim mitigation

Upgrade D-Link DSL-2750B firmware to version 1.05 or later. If the device is end-of-life and no firmware update is available, immediately retire or isolate the device from untrusted networks and implement compensating controls such as strict firewall rules.

Recommended fix High confidence

D-Link DSL-2750B Firmware version 1.05 or later

  1. Identify the current firmware version of the D-Link DSL-2750B device by accessing the web management interface or checking the device label
  2. Navigate to the D-Link support page for the DSL-2750B model
  3. Download firmware version 1.05 or later from the official D-Link support site
  4. Access the device's web management interface using administrative credentials
  5. Locate the firmware upgrade section (typically under Tools or Administration settings)
  6. Upload and apply the firmware version 1.05 or later
  7. Allow the device to reboot and complete the firmware update process
  8. Verify the firmware version has been updated successfully
Caveat Firmware updates may reset device configuration to defaults; ensure you backup current settings before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Dsl 2750b Firmware Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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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-2016-20017 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data