CVE-2026-5040
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 · uneditedTP-Link Deco M5 v1 uses a weak password hashing mechanism to store user credentials. An attacker who obtains the password hash through system compromise or privileged access could perform brute-force or dictionary attacks. Successful exploitation may result in disclosure of authentication credentials, enabling unauthorized access to device management functions, depending on the privileges associated with the recovered password. The primary security impact is loss of confidentiality.
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 confidenceThe TP-Link Deco M5 v1 stores user credentials using a weak password hashing mechanism (e.g., unsalted MD5/SHA1 or similar). An attacker with system compromise or privileged access can obtain the password hashes and easily crack them via brute-force or dictionary attacks, leading to credential disclosure and unauthorized access to device management functions.
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< 1.9.4CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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 device model and firmware versionAccess the Deco M5 admin interface or check the device label to verify the model is Deco M5 v1. Note the firmware version displayed in system settings or via the TP-Link Deco app.Affected if Device is a TP-Link Deco M5 v1 running any firmware version that stores credentials with weak hashing
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Locate stored user credentialsIf you have shell access (via UART, SSH after enablement, or firmware extraction), navigate to the configuration database or shadow file where user passwords are stored. Common locations include /etc/shadow, /var/config, or a SQLite database file in the firmware overlay.Affected if Credentials are stored in an accessible location on the device filesystem
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Examine password hash formatExtract the stored password hash and examine its format. Weak hashes typically appear as: MD5 = 32 hex characters (e.g., d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e), SHA1 = 40 hex characters. Note whether a salt prefix/suffix is present (e.g., $1$salt$hash).Affected if Password hash is a raw MD5 (32 char) or SHA1 (40 char) with no visible salt delimiter or $ identifier
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Verify salt presence in hashCheck if the hash contains a salt component. Strong hashes use formats like $2a$ (bcrypt), $scrypt$ (scrypt), $argon2$ (Argon2), or $6$ (SHA512crypt). Weak hashes will be plain hexadecimal strings with no $ delimiters separating salt from hash.Affected if Hash contains no salt component and is a plain hexadecimal string of MD5 or SHA1 length
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Check hashing implementation in firmware binaryIf possible, extract and analyze the firmware binary. Use strings or binwalk to locate references to hash functions like MD5, SHA1, MD5_Update, or compare against calls to crypt, bcrypt, scrypt, or Argon2 functions.Affected if Binary contains calls to unsalted MD5 or SHA1 functions for password storage rather than dedicated password hashing functions
A user is affected if their Deco M5 v1 stores password hashes as plain MD5/SHA1 strings without salting, indicating the weak hashing mechanism is present.
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 data1.9.4
Apply the vendor firmware update from TP-Link that implements strong password hashing (e.g., bcrypt, scrypt, or Argon2 with proper salting). If no update is available, consider network segmentation and monitoring for unauthorized access attempts.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-5040 — 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-2026-5040 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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