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Fencer Intel
critical 9.8

CVE-2019-12511 json

Root Command Injection via MAC Address in SOAP API

published 6y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2019-4106

cvss
9.8
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.3%
EPSS 2.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 83%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In NETGEAR Nighthawk X10-R9000 prior to 1.0.4.26, an attacker may execute arbitrary system commands as root by sending a specially-crafted MAC address to the "NETGEAR Genie" SOAP endpoint at AdvancedQoS:GetCurrentBandwidthByMAC. Although this requires QoS being enabled, advanced QoS being enabled, and a valid authentication JWT, additional vulnerabilities (CVE-2019-12510) allow an attacker to interact with the entire SOAP API without authentication. Additionally, DNS rebinding techniques may be used to exploit this vulnerability remotely. Exploiting this vulnerability is somewhat involved. The following limitations apply to the payload and must be overcome for successful exploitation: - No more than 17 characters may be used. - At least one colon must be included to prevent mangling. - A single-quote and meta-character must be used to break out of the existing command. - Parent command remnants after the injection point must be dealt with. - The payload must be in all-caps. Despite these limitations, it is still possible to gain access to an interactive root shell via this vulnerability. Since the web server assigns certain HTTP headers to environment variables with all-caps names, it is possible to insert a payload into one such header and reference the subsequent environment variable in the injection point.

Patch / fix

  • netgear nighthawk_x10-r9000_firmware 1.0.4.26

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Exploit prediction

2.32% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 83% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • ise.io https://www.ise.io/casestudies/sohopelessly-broken-2-0/ referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 9.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-78 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.