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CVE-2016-1555

From Exploited flaws, HARD’s guide to the flaws being used in attacks · Checked
This article is about a flaw in NETGEAR Wireless Access Point (WAP) Devices. For every flaw being used in attacks, see Exploited flaws; for NETGEAR’s, see NETGEAR flaws being used in attacks.

CVE-2016-1555 is a security flaw in NETGEAR Wireless Access Point (WAP) Devices, routers for homes and small offices. Attackers can run their own code on NETGEAR Wireless Access Point (WAP) Devices from anywhere, without logging in. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added it to its catalog of flaws known to be used in attacks on 25 Mar 2022.[1]

NETGEAR Wireless Access Point (WAP) Devices is in things households have: home and small-office routers, so the fix matters at home as much as at work. NETGEAR has published a fix or advice.

Description

CISA calls it a multiple WAP devices command injection in NETGEAR Wireless Access Point (WAP) Devices. In its words: “Multiple NETGEAR Wireless Access Point devices allows unauthenticated web pages to pass form input directly to the command-line interface. Exploitation allows for arbitrary code execution.”[1]

The CVE record adds: “(1) boardData102.php, (2) boardData103.php, (3) boardDataJP.php, (4) boardDataNA.php, and (5) boardDataWW.php in Netgear WN604 before 3.3.3 and WN802Tv2, WNAP210v2, WNAP320, WNDAP350, WNDAP360, and WNDAP660 before 3.5.5.0 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands.”[2]

The underlying weakness is command injection (CWE-77), in MITRE’s list of common software weaknesses.

It scores 9.8 out of 10 on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System, which rates it critical, scored by NVD using CVSS 3.1.[2]

Affected versions

NVD’s record doesn’t list version ranges for it; NETGEAR’s advisory has them[3]. CISA names the product as NETGEAR Wireless Access Point (WAP) Devices.

Every device with NETGEAR Wireless Access Point (WAP) Devices needs the update.

Exploitation

CISA added it to its catalog of known exploited vulnerabilities on 25 Mar 2022, 1,799 days after it was made public. CISA lists a flaw only when it has reliable evidence of it being exploited, and gave US federal agencies until 15 Apr 2022 to fix it.[1]

FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System, which estimates how likely a flaw is to be used in attacks in the next 30 days from what it sees across the internet, puts it at 98%. That’s in the top 1% of the flaws it scores.[4]

CISA assesses it as automatable: attackers can run it against many targets at once.

CISA doesn’t say who was attacked, or how.

Fix

NETGEAR has published a fix or advice.[3] CISA’s required action: “Apply updates per vendor instructions.”[1]

  1. Update NETGEAR Wireless Access Point (WAP) Devices now.Open the router’s app, or its admin page in a browser, and look for a firmware update. Then turn on automatic updates, so the next fix arrives on its own.
  2. If the maker has stopped updating it, replace it.Routers stop getting fixes after a few years, and attackers keep a list of the ones that did. If there’s no newer firmware, it won’t be fixed.

Timeline

DateEvent
The flaw is made public in the National Vulnerability Database, with a severity score of 9.8.[2]
CISA adds it to its catalog of flaws known to be used in attacks.[1]
CISA’s deadline for US government agencies to fix it.[1]
FIRST puts the odds of it being used in attacks in the next 30 days at 98%.[4]

See also

Other NETGEAR flaws

  • CVE-2017-5521, NETGEAR Multiple Devices: exposure of sensitive information ·
  • CVE-2017-6862, NETGEAR Multiple Devices: buffer overflow ·
  • CVE-2017-6334, NETGEAR DGN2200 Devices: OS command injection ·
  • CVE-2016-10174, NETGEAR WNR2000v5 Router: buffer overflow ·
  • CVE-2017-6077, NETGEAR Wireless Router DGN2200: dGN2200 remote code execution ·

Other command injection flaws

Added the same day

  • CVE-2022-26318, WatchGuard Firebox and XTM Appliances: arbitrary code execution ·
  • CVE-2022-26143, Mitel MiCollab, MiVoice Business Express: access control ·
  • CVE-2022-21999, Microsoft Windows: print spooler privilege escalation ·
  • CVE-2021-42237, Sitecore XP: remote command execution ·
  • CVE-2021-22941, Citrix ShareFile: improper access control ·

Every NETGEAR flaw on CISA’s list · Everything added in March 2022

References

  1. ^ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “NETGEAR Multiple WAP Devices Command Injection Vulnerability”. Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, added 25 Mar 2022.
  2. ^ National Institute of Standards and Technology. “CVE-2016-1555 Detail”. National Vulnerability Database, published 21 Apr 2017.
  3. ^ NETGEAR. Advisories and fixes: kb.netgear.com.
  4. ^ FIRST. “Exploit Prediction Scoring System”. EPSS 0.983, percentile 99.9, 31 Oct 2026.
  5. CVE Program. “CVE-2016-1555”. The official CVE record.

This article is built from CISA’s catalog (version 2026.10.30), NVD’s record and FIRST’s scores, kept in HARD’s database and checked every morning. The plain English is HARD’s.