CVE-2023-1389

TP-Link Archer AX21 (AX1800) firmware versions before 1.1.4 Build 20230219 contained a command injection vulnerability in the country form of the /cgi-bin/luci;stok=/locale endpoint on the web management interface. Specifically, the country parameter of the write operation was not sanitized before being used in a call to popen(), allowing an unauthenticated attacker to inject commands, which would be run as root, with a simple POST request.

CVSS: 8.8Highscored by CISA
Exploited in the wild: Yes, in CISA KEV since 1 May 2023CISA deadline for US federal agencies: 22 May 2023public exploit code
EPSS: > 99.9%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 0.1% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
Fix: Not stated by the vendorno fixed release in the CVE record
Published: 15 Mar 2023analysed here 12 Nov 2026

Do first. Apply updates per vendor instructions. (CISA's required action for this KEV entry)

Summary

Triage

Attack surface: Server-side
Exploitable: At runtime
Attack vector: adjacent network
Weakness: CWE-77 Command Injection
Can a WAF block it?: Partly. See why

The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.

Affected products

Product	Affected versions	Vendor says fixed in
TP-Link Archer AX21 (AX1800)	All versions prior to version 1.14 Build 20230219Vendor says fixed in: not stated	Not stated by the vendor

As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.

Products named in our analysis

tp-link:archer_ax21_firmware

Fix and mitigation

WAF and other mitigations

Can a WAF block it? Partly. The vulnerability is triggered by a POST request to a specific web management interface endpoint with a country parameter that is not sanitized, allowing command injection. This unusual parameter usage can be detected and blocked by a WAF. A WAF rule can match POST requests to /cgi-bin/luci;stok=/locale with unsanitized country parameter. No tracked WAF vendor has published a rule for this CVE yet, so you would write it yourself.

What a custom rule would match: POST requests to /cgi-bin/luci;stok=/locale with unsanitized country parameter

Also consider: patch · custom WAF rule · input validation · RASP

Based on an AI reading of the CVE description, and no vendor rule found yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.

Remediation steps (AI-written)

Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.

Exploitation evidence

CISA KEV catalog: Listed since 1 May 2023.
CISA due date: 22 May 2023, the remediation deadline for US federal agencies
CISA required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Public exploit code: Yes: 1 on Exploit-DB · 2 GitHub proofs of concept · 1 Nuclei template
CISA SSVC: exploitation active, automatable yes, technical impact totalAssessed by CISA 20 Nov 2023 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.

Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.

Timeline

15 Mar 2023Published
1 May 2023Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild)46 days later
22 May 2023CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies)21 days later
28 Jul 2023First public exploit or proof of concept67 days (about 2 months) later
20 Nov 2023CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active116 days (about 4 months) later
21 Oct 2025CVE record last updated701 days (about 2 years) later
12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com387 days (about 1 year) later

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Metric	Value	What it means
Attack vector	AdjacentSame subnet or link layer.	Same subnet or link layer.
Attack complexity	LowRepeatable attack, no special conditions.	Repeatable attack, no special conditions.
Privileges required	NoneThe attacker needs no prior access.	The attacker needs no prior access.
User interaction	NoneNo victim action needed.	No victim action needed.
Scope	UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.	Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality	HighTotal data disclosure possible.	Total data disclosure possible.
Integrity	HighComplete modification possible.	Complete modification possible.
Availability	HighFull outage possible.	Full outage possible.

Common questions

Is CVE-2023-1389 being exploited?

Yes. CVE-2023-1389 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.

How severe is CVE-2023-1389?

CVE-2023-1389 is rated High with a CVSS score of 8.8. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.

Is there a patch for CVE-2023-1389?

Not known from our data. No patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2023-1389, which is not the same as no patch existing — a fix may have shipped without a tagged reference, or after this record was written. The vendor advisory is the only authority on whether a fix exists, and mitigations may be available regardless.

What does CVE-2023-1389 affect?

CVE-2023-1389 affects tp-link:archer_ax21_firmware. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.

Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.

References

NVD CVE.org CVE Details Source

3 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.

Where the data on this page comes from

CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
NVD: CVSS and CPE data
CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
Exploit-DB: published exploits
Nuclei templates: detection templates
PoC-in-GitHub: GitHub repositories that claim a proof of concept

Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.

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