CVE-2023-38031
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 · uneditedASUS RT-AC86U Adaptive QoS - Web History function has insufficient filtering of special character. A remote attacker with regular user privilege can exploit this vulnerability to perform command injection attack to execute arbitrary commands, disrupt system or terminate services.
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 confidenceCommand injection vulnerability in ASUS RT-AC86U router's Adaptive QoS Web History function allows authenticated remote attackers with regular user privileges to execute arbitrary commands through insufficiently filtered special characters.
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= 3.0.0.4_386_51529CVSS 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
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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Confirm router model is RT-AC86ULog into the router Web GUI (typically at 192.168.1.1) and check the device model displayed on the dashboard or in Administration > System > Router Mode. Alternatively, check the product label on the device itself.Affected if The router model is not RT-AC86U, the detection does not apply.
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Check firmware version equals 3.0.0.4_386_51529In the router Web GUI, navigate to Administration > Firmware Version or check the main dashboard for the current firmware build number. Compare the exact version string to 3.0.0.4_386_51529.Affected if Firmware version exactly matches 3.0.0.4_386_51529 - this is the vulnerable version.
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Verify Adaptive QoS is enabledIn the router Web GUI, go to Adaptive QoS (usually under Traffic Manager or QoS settings). Check if Adaptive QoS is turned ON and if the Web History sub-feature is accessible.Affected if Adaptive QoS with Web History function is enabled and accessible to the authenticated user.
You are affected if your router is an RT-AC86U running firmware exactly version 3.0.0.4_386_51529 with Adaptive QoS Web History feature enabled and accessible to authenticated users.
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 ASUS firmware update when available; restrict Web GUI access to trusted networks until patch is applied.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-38031 — 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-2023-38031 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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