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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 1 Jun 2022.
RouterosOperating system · Mikrotik

CVE-2018-14847

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2018-08-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 6.42 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit 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
MikroTik RouterOS through 6.42 allows unauthenticated remote attackers to read arbitrary files and remote authenticated attackers to write arbitrary files due to a directory traversal vulnerability in the WinBox 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 confidence

MikroTik RouterOS through version 6.42 contains a directory traversal vulnerability in the WinBox management interface that allows unauthenticated remote attackers to read arbitrary files on the system, and authenticated attackers to write arbitrary files. This is caused by improper validation of user-supplied paths in the WinBox service.

MitigationUpgrade MikroTik RouterOS to version 6.42.1 or later to patch the vulnerability. If immediate upgrade is not possible, disable or restrict access to the WinBox interface using firewall rules, and ensure the router is not directly exposed to the internet.

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
RouterosOperating system
Affected:<= 6.42

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
None

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

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

  1. Check RouterOS version
    Run `/system resource print` in RouterOS CLI, or view System > Resources in WinBox, or query the router's web interface for the version banner
    Affected if Installed version is 6.42 or earlier (any version <= 6.42)
  2. Verify WinBox port exposure
    Scan your external IP addresses for TCP port 8291 using `nmap -p 8291 <your-external-ip>` or check router firewall rules with `/ip firewall print`
    Affected if Port 8291 is open and accessible from untrusted network segments or the internet
  3. Verify webfig port exposure
    Scan your external IP addresses for TCP ports 80 and 443, or review firewall rules with `/ip firewall print`
    Affected if Ports 80 or 443 are open and accessible from untrusted network segments or the internet
  4. Confirm WinBox/webfig service status
    Run `/ip service print` in RouterOS to list active management services and their interface bindings
    Affected if WinBox (port 8291) or webfig (port 80/443) services are enabled and bound to external or untrusted interfaces

You are affected if your MikroTik RouterOS version is 6.42 or earlier AND the WinBox or webfig management ports are accessible from untrusted networks.

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 a release after 6.42
Interim mitigation

Upgrade MikroTik RouterOS to version 6.42.1 or later to patch the vulnerability. If immediate upgrade is not possible, disable or restrict access to the WinBox interface using firewall rules, and ensure the router is not directly exposed to the internet.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

RouterOS version 6.43 or later (recommended: latest Long-term or Stable release)

  1. 1. Access the MikroTik router via WinBox, WebFig, or SSH using admin credentials
  2. 2. Navigate to System > Packages > Check for Updates, or download the latest RouterOS Long-term or Stable release from mikrotik.com
  3. 3. Upload the new RouterOS .npk file via Files menu or directly upgrade via System > Packages
  4. 4. Reboot the router after the upgrade completes using System > Reboot
  5. 5. Verify the new version is installed by checking /system resource print
Caveat Review release notes for configuration changes between your current version and the target version; backup configuration before upgrading

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

Fix this in Routeros Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,970
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,152.

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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-2018-14847 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data