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Threats / Cisco / CVE-2022-20700
CVE-2022-20700 · EUVD no mirror located · GCVE no mirror located Verified 2026-06-22

Cisco Small Business RV160, RV260, RV340, and RV345 Series R vulnerability

A stack-based buffer overflow in Cisco Small Business RV160, RV260, RV340, and RV345 routers enables unauthenticated remote code execution, privilege escalation, and denial of service.

Verdict

Today item — known-exploited.

This vulnerability poses critical risk to small business network infrastructure. Exploitation requires no authentication and has been observed in active attacks. Affected routers should be patched immediately to prevent unauthorized access and network compromise.

CISA KEV Yes · 2022-03-033EPSS 0.05447 (verify live)4
01

Is it exploitable?

— the evidence, ranked above the score
Reported exploitation
1 independent public report of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
cisa.gov ↗Confirmed
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-03).
CISA KEV ↗Confirmed
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.05447 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Cisco, Small Business RV160, RV260, RV340, and RV345 Series Routers. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
NVD ↗Reported
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-121 Stack-based Buffer Overflow — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
NVD ↗Reported
02

Who’s exploiting it?

— attribution turns risk into urgency
Attribution not established

No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.

03

Why it matters

— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board
1

Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1

Attacker
I send a crafted network packet to the vulnerable router to trigger a stack buffer overflow.
Business
Attacker gains initial foothold on network perimeter device with no authentication required.
2

Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2

Attacker
I execute arbitrary code with router privileges to establish persistent access or pivot deeper into the network.
Business
Compromised router becomes staging point for lateral movement and data exfiltration across internal systems.
3

Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3

Attacker
I bypass authentication controls to access router configuration, credentials, and connected network resources.
Business
Loss of confidentiality and integrity of network traffic, VPN sessions, and sensitive business communications.
4

Data at risk — exfiltration narrative 4

Attacker
I crash the router or disable critical services through denial of service techniques.
Business
Business operations disrupted as remote workers and branch offices lose network connectivity.
04

What to do

— defensible action
  • Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05

Coverage & confidence

— what we know, and what we don’t

Established (cited)

  • KEV listing (CISA)
  • EPSS probability (FIRST)
  • 1 reported-exploitation source(s)
  • CWE weakness mapping (NVD)
  • Catalogued by cisco (CNA)
  • Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden

  • No EUVD / GCVE mirror in feed — single-authority dependency for the identifier.
  • EPSS & exposure are time-varying; verify live at the source.
  • Threat-actor attribution not established from feed data — absence of a name is not absence of compromise.
  • No finder/reporter credit recorded in the public CVE entry — the work behind this find is unattributed.
  • Disclosure & credit2
    Catalogued by ciscoCNA
    Credited with finding itNo finder named in the public CVE record — the work behind this find is unattributed.