CVE-2023-1389

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command

CVSS 3.1 High 8.8Known exploited (CISA KEV)

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

Description

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.

Key data

CVSS 3.1 High 8.8

Score published by CISA-ADP in the CVE record.

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

Attack vector: Adjacent
The attacker needs to be on the same shared network segment or a closely related one.
Attack complexity: Low
No special conditions are needed. The attack can be repeated at will.
Privileges required: None
No account or privileges are needed.
User interaction: None
No action from any user is needed.
Scope: Unchanged
The impact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality impact: High
Serious or total effect on the secrecy of data.
Integrity impact: High
Serious or total effect on the trustworthiness of data.
Availability impact: High
Serious or total effect on availability.

Metric	Value	What it means
Attack vector	Adjacent	The attacker needs to be on the same shared network segment or a closely related one.
Attack complexity	Low	No special conditions are needed. The attack can be repeated at will.
Privileges required	None	No account or privileges are needed.
User interaction	None	No action from any user is needed.
Scope	Unchanged	The impact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality impact	High	Serious or total effect on the secrecy of data.
Integrity impact	High	Serious or total effect on the trustworthiness of data.
Availability impact	High	Serious or total effect on availability.

CVSS is owned and managed by FIRST.Org, Inc. (FIRST) and is used by permission. Each CVSS score on this site is shown together with its vector string, as published in the CVE record by the source named next to it. Learn more at first.org/cvss.

EPSS

Exploit Prediction Scoring System by FIRST: an estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days.

Score: 0.99999 (99.99% probability)
Percentile: 99.99%
Scores of: Nov 10, 2026
Model: v2026.06.15

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities

This CVE is listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Name in the catalog: TP-Link Archer AX-21 Command Injection Vulnerability
Added to the catalog: May 1, 2023
Federal due date: May 22, 2023

CISA assessment as of Nov 20, 2023

Stakeholder-Specific Vulnerability Categorization (SSVC) decision points added by CISA.

Exploitation: Recorded by CISA as active
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: total

Weakness (CWE)

CWE catalog version 5.0.

CWE-77Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command

Affected products

Products listed in the CVE record, as the CNA published them.

TP-Link Archer AX21 (AX1800)
- affected: All versions prior to version 1.14 Build 20230219

References

Links listed in the CVE record. They lead to other sites, which CubePath does not control.

Timeline

ID reservedMar 14, 2023
Record publishedMar 15, 2023
Added to CISA KEVMay 1, 2023
Record last updatedOct 21, 2025

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Data from the CVE Program (MITRE), CISA KEV and FIRST EPSS. CVSS is owned by FIRST and used by permission. Not affiliated with or endorsed by MITRE, CISA or FIRST. Data as of Nov 10, 2026, 19:25 UTC. Sources and licenses