CVE-2025-12946
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 · uneditedA vulnerability in the speedtest feature of affected NETGEAR Nighthawk routers, caused by improper input validation, can allow attackers on the router's WAN side, using attacker-in-the-middle techniques (MiTM) to manipulate DNS responses and execute commands when speedtests are run. This issue affects RS700: through 1.0.7.82; RAX54Sv2 : before V1.1.6.36; RAX41v2: before V1.1.6.36; RAX50: before V1.2.14.114; RAXE500: before V1.2.14.114; RAX41: before V1.0.17.142; RAX43: before V1.0.17.142; RAX35v2: before V1.0.17.142; RAXE450: before V1.2.14.114; RAX43v2: before V1.1.6.36; RAX42: before V1.0.17.142; RAX45: before V1.0.17.142; RAX50v2: before V1.1.6.36; MR90: before V1.0.2.46; MS90: before V1.0.2.46; RAX42v2: before V1.1.6.36; RAX49S: before V1.1.6.36.
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 analysisThe application accepts input without confirming it is well-formed or within expected bounds, so malformed data can push the program into states its author never anticipated. Attackers probe these gaps to trigger crashes, bypass logic, or feed tainted values into more dangerous operations downstream. Remediating it well means validating and normalising every input at the boundary against a strict allow-list — not merely filtering known-bad values.
General guidance for the improper input validation 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< 1.0.9.6< 1.1.6.36< 1.1.6.36< 1.1.6.36< 1.2.14.114< 1.2.14.114< 1.0.17.142< 1.0.17.142CVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/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 · scoped1.0.9.61.0.17.1421.1.6.36
RS700: firmware 1.0.9.6+ | RAX54Sv2/RAX41v2/RAX45v2/RAX43v2/RAX50v2/RAX42v2/RAX49S: firmware 1.1.6.36+ | RAX50/RAXE500/RAXE450: firmware 1.2.14.114+ | RAX41/RAX43/RAX42/RAX45/RAX35v2: firmware 1.0.17.142+ | MR90/MS90: firmware 1.0.2.46+
- Identify your exact NETGEAR router model number (e.g., RAX50, RAX43, RS700)
- Navigate to the NETGEAR support website or use the NETGEAR Nighthawk app
- Locate the firmware download page for your specific router model
- Download the firmware version equal to or higher than the fixed version for your model: RS700: 1.0.9.6 or later; RAX54Sv2/RAX41v2/RAX45v2/RAX43v2/RAX50v2/RAX42v2/RAX49S: 1.1.6.36 or later; RAX50/RAXE500/RAXE450: 1.2.14.114 or later; RAX41/RAX43/RAX42/RAX45/RAX35v2: 1.0.17.142 or later; MR90/MS90: 1.0.2.46 or later
- Access your router's web management interface (typically at routerlogin.net or 192.168.1.1)
- Navigate to the Administration > Router Update or Advanced > Administration > Firmware Update section
- Upload and install the downloaded firmware file
- Wait for the router to reboot and verify the new firmware version is installed
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-2025-12946 — 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 sources- kb.netgear.com
- kb.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- www.netgear.com
- nvd.nist.gov
Practitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-12946 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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