MikroTik WinBox 3.22 and below stores the user's cleartext password in the settings.cfg.viw configuration file when the Keep Password field…

published 2020-04-15 6y ago modified 2026-06-17 4mo ago also EUVD-2020-26880

cvss: 5.5; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.4%; EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 32%
public exploits: 0; none known

MikroTik WinBox 3.22 and below stores the user's cleartext password in the settings.cfg.viw configuration file when the Keep Password field is set and no Master Password is set. Keep Password is set by default and, by default Master Password is not set. An attacker with access to the configuration file can extract a username and password to gain access to the router.

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Exploit prediction

0.38% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 32% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

tenable.com https://www.tenable.com/security/research/tra-2020-23 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	3.1	5.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD	2.0	2.1	AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Affected products

n/a MikroTik WinBox

Classification

Weakness

CWE-260 Password in Configuration File
CWE-522 Insufficiently Protected Credentials

References

tenable.com /security/research/tra-2020-23
exploit, third-party-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2020-5721
NVD CVE-2020-5721

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