CVE-2021-38539

Adjacent authenticated privilege escalation

Published Aug 10, 2021 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Vertical privilege escalation in NETGEAR D8500 and twelve router models allows remote authenticated users to gain elevated privileges. Neither NETGEAR's advisory nor the CVE record identifies the affected component or the operation that mishandles attacker-controlled input. Exploitation requires low privileges and adjacent-network access; the CNA assessment limits impact to low confidentiality loss and high-integrity modification without service interruption.

CVSS severity7.1
High
EPSS probability0.82%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Vertical privilege escalation in NETGEAR D8500 and twelve router models allows remote authenticated users to gain elevated privileges. Neither NETGEAR's advisory nor the CVE record identifies the affected component or the operation that mishandles attacker-controlled input. Exploitation requires low privileges and adjacent-network access; the CNA assessment limits impact to low confidentiality loss and high-integrity modification without service interruption.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-38539
Published
Aug 10, 2021
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
T1068
Attack vector
adjacent
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Aug 10, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Affected buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectoradjacent
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

7.1NETGEARCVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N
6.5NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P
8.8NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
6.3MITRECVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectoradjacent
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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