CVE-2017-7921
Published: 06 May 2017
Summary
CVE-2017-7921 is a critical-severity Improper Authentication (CWE-287) vulnerability in Hikvision Ds-2Cd2032-I Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked in the top 0.1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and IA-8 (Identification and Authentication (Non-organizational Users)).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2017-7921 is an improper authentication vulnerability, tracked as CWE-287, that affects a range of Hikvision IP camera models and firmware versions. Impacted products include the DS-2CD2xx2F-I Series (V5.2.0 build 140721 through V5.4.0 build 160530), DS-2CD2xx0F-I Series, DS-2CD2xx2FWD Series, DS-2CD4x2xFWD Series, DS-2CD4xx5 Series, DS-2DFx Series, and DS-2CD63xx Series, each with their respective version ranges up to the listed builds. The root cause is insufficient or incorrect authentication checks that fail to properly validate users before granting access.
An unauthenticated attacker with network access can exploit the flaw to escalate privileges and retrieve sensitive information from the device. The vulnerability received a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8, reflecting its network-exploitable nature with no required privileges or user interaction and high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Public advisories addressing the issue have been published by Hikvision and ICS-CERT, with additional references available at the listed URLs including the vendor notice and https://ics-cert.us-cert.gov/advisories/ICSA-17-124-01.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2017-16892
Vulnerability details
An Improper Authentication issue was discovered in Hikvision DS-2CD2xx2F-I Series V5.2.0 build 140721 to V5.4.0 build 160530, DS-2CD2xx0F-I Series V5.2.0 build 140721 to V5.4.0 Build 160401, DS-2CD2xx2FWD Series V5.3.1 build 150410 to V5.4.4 Build 161125, DS-2CD4x2xFWD Series V5.2.0 build 140721…
more
to V5.4.0 Build 160414, DS-2CD4xx5 Series V5.2.0 build 140721 to V5.4.0 Build 160421, DS-2DFx Series V5.2.0 build 140805 to V5.4.5 Build 160928, and DS-2CD63xx Series V5.0.9 build 140305 to V5.3.5 Build 160106 devices. The improper authentication vulnerability occurs when an application does not adequately or correctly authenticate users. This may allow a malicious user to escalate his or her privileges on the system and gain access to sensitive information.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 05 March 2026
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly enforces authentication and authorization decisions before granting access to camera functions or data, blocking the unauthenticated privilege escalation path.
Requires identification and authentication of non-organizational users before any access to the device, directly mitigating the missing authentication checks.
Restricts and enforces authentication requirements for all remote network connections to the affected IP cameras.