Small Business Sa520 FirmwareOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2017-15805
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 · uneditedCisco Small Business SA520 and SA540 devices with firmware 2.1.71 and 2.2.0.7 allow ../ directory traversal in scgi-bin/platform.cgi via the thispage parameter, for reading arbitrary files.
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 · moderate confidenceUnauthenticated directory traversal vulnerability in Cisco Small Business SA520 and SA540 routers allows attackers to access arbitrary files on the filesystem via the 'thispage' parameter in scgi-bin/platform.cgi by using '../' sequences to escape the intended path.
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
Small Business Sa520 FirmwareOperating system
= 2.1.71= 2.2.0.7
Small Business Sa540 FirmwareOperating system
= 2.1.71= 2.2.0.7CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 modelAccess the router web interface or check the device label to confirm it is a Cisco Small Business SA520 or SA540 model.Affected if The device is a Cisco SA520 or SA540 router.
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Check the firmware versionLog into the router administrative interface and navigate to the Status or System Information page to view the installed firmware version.Affected if The firmware version is 2.1.71 or 2.2.0.7.
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Verify the web management interface is accessibleAttempt to access the router web interface over HTTP/HTTPS from a network that can reach the device (typically ports 80 or 443).Affected if The scgi-bin/platform.cgi endpoint is reachable on the device.
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Test for the vulnerable parameterSend an HTTP GET request to the endpoint 'scgi-bin/platform.cgi?thispage=../../../../../../etc/passwd' (or similar path traversal) to observe if the device returns file contents outside the intended directory.Affected if The device returns file content from outside the webroot, confirming the directory traversal is exploitable.
If the device is a Cisco SA520 or SA540 running firmware version 2.1.71 or 2.2.0.7 and the web interface is accessible, the device is affected by this vulnerability.
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 dataApply vendor-supplied firmware update; if patches unavailable (EOL devices), implement network segmentation and restrict access to administrative interfaces via ACLs or firewall rules.
Fix this in Small Business Sa520 Firmware
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,680.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-15805 — 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-2017-15805 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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