Taiwan-based networking equipment manufacturer D-Link has released firmware updates for several of its DIR model routers to address a serious vulnerability discovered by a researcher.
The flaw, identified by Daniel Romero, is a stack-based buffer overflow in a function responsible for validating session cookies. The affected function is used by a service that could be exposed to the WAN network on port 8181. A remote or a local attacker may be able to exploit the vulnerability for arbitrary code execution.
The security hole, tracked as CVE-2016-5681, has been confirmed to impact the following D-Link routers: DIR-850L B1, DIR-822 A1, DIR-823 A1, DIR-895L A1, DIR-890L A1, DIR-885L A1, DIR-880L A1, DIR-868L B1, DIR-868L C1, DIR-817L(W) and DIR-818L(W).
The CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC) has assigned this vulnerability a CVSS score of 9.3, which puts it in the “critical impact” category.
D-Link said in an advisory that it has released firmware updates for most of the affected router models, except DIR-817 Rev. Ax and DIR-818L Rev. Bx. Patches for these devices will be made available by the end of August.
Since D-Link home and small business routers are highly popular, they are often analyzed by security researchers. The company released firmware updates for several of its products last year, but not all vulnerabilities were patched properly on the first try.
Routers are not the only products found to be vulnerable to hacker attacks. In June, IoT security startup Senrio revealed that it had found a serious flaw in a popular D-Link Wi-Fi camera. After a detailed analysis of the issue, the vendor discovered that the bug affects more than 120 of its products, including access points, modems, routers, connected home products and storage solutions.
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