CVE-2021-45544
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 · uneditedCertain NETGEAR devices are affected by command injection by an authenticated user. This affects R7850 before 1.0.5.74, R7900P before 1.4.2.84, R7960P before 1.4.2.84, R8000 before 1.0.4.74, R8000P before 1.4.2.84, RAX200 before 1.0.4.120, RAX75 before 1.0.4.120, RAX80 before 1.0.4.120, RBK852 before 3.2.17.12, RBR850 before 3.2.17.12, and RBS850 before 3.2.17.12.
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 analysisUser input reaches a command interpreter without being fully separated from the command itself, so an attacker can append instructions of their own. Because those run with the application's privileges, it frequently means control of the host. The lasting fix is to avoid constructing commands from input — call APIs directly and pass arguments as data, never as concatenated strings.
General guidance for the command injection class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
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< 1.0.5.74< 1.4.2.84< 1.4.2.84< 1.0.4.74< 1.4.2.84< 1.0.4.120< 1.0.4.120< 1.0.4.120CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 · scoped1.0.4.741.0.4.1201.0.5.74
R7850: 1.0.5.74 | R7900p: 1.4.2.84 | R7960p: 1.4.2.84 | R8000: 1.0.4.74 | R8000p: 1.4.2.84 | RAX200: 1.0.4.120 | RAX75: 1.0.4.120 | RAX80: 1.0.4.120 | RBK852/RBR850/RBS850: 3.2.17.12
- 1. Identify the exact NETGEAR router or WiFi system model number from the affected list (R7850, R7900p, R7960p, R8000, R8000p, RAX200, RAX75, RAX80, RBK852, RBR850, or RBS850).
- 2. Access the router's web management interface by navigating to routerlogin.net or using the router's IP address (typically 192.168.1.1).
- 3. Log in with administrator credentials.
- 4. Navigate to the Administration or Settings section, then locate Firmware Update or Router Update.
- 5. Check the current firmware version under the Router Status or About section to confirm it is vulnerable.
- 6. Download the appropriate fixed firmware version from the official NETGEAR support site (support.netgear.com) for the specific model.
- 7. In the Firmware Update section, select the option to upload the downloaded firmware file manually, or enable automatic update if a newer stable version is available.
- 8. Wait for the firmware upload and installation to complete - do not power off the router during this process.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-45544 — 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-2021-45544 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
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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