CVE-2023-50224
Auth Bypass in Tp-Link Wa901Nd Firmware 6_191127 – 6_220701
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2023-50224 is a medium-severity Authentication Bypass by Spoofing (CWE-290) vulnerability in Tp-Link Tl-Wr841N. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Junk Data (T1001.001); ranked in the top 3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to IA-2 (Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)) and IA-3 (Device Identification and Authentication) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2023-50224 is an improper authentication vulnerability in the httpd service of TP-Link TL-WR841N routers that permits disclosure of stored credentials. The flaw resides in the dropbearpwd component and affects installations listening on the default TCP port 80; no authentication is required to trigger it. The issue was originally reported as ZDI-CAN-19899 and carries a CVSS 3.0 score of 6.5 with an adjacent-network attack vector.
A network-adjacent attacker can exploit the weakness to retrieve sensitive credential information from the device, which may then be used to obtain further access or perform additional compromise of the router and attached networks.
TP-Link has published updated firmware for the TL-WR841N v12 on its support site, and the Zero Day Initiative advisory ZDI-23-1808 provides corresponding technical details. The vulnerability is also listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, confirming observed real-world exploitation.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-55046
- 🇬🇧 UK NCSC: APT28 exploit routers to enable DNS hijacking operations
Vulnerability Data
TP-Link TL-WR841N dropbearpwd Improper Authentication Information Disclosure Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows network-adjacent attackers to disclose sensitive information on affected installations of TP-Link TL-WR841N routers. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the httpd service,…
more
which listens on TCP port 80 by default. The issue results from improper authentication. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to disclose stored credentials, leading to further compromise. Was ZDI-CAN-19899.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 03 September 2025
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V6.4.3V10.4.16V11.4.3
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Proper unique identification and authentication of users directly stops spoofing-based bypass of authentication.
Device identification and authentication before connection prevents spoofing of devices to bypass auth.
Authentication of non-organizational users blocks external spoofing attempts against the scheme.
Authenticator management ensures credentials cannot be easily spoofed or reused to bypass authentication.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Proofing and binding identities reduces spoofing opportunities during enrollment but does not address runtime authentication implementation flaws.
Requiring authentication of users/services/hardware directly counters spoofing-based bypass when strong methods are used.
Protecting, conveying, and verifying identity assertions specifically prevents the spoofing that enables authentication bypass.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
A.5.15 only requires that an access control policy and requirements be defined and communicated; it does not itself implement, enforce or configure any authentication scheme that would stop spoofing attacks from bypassing authentication, so the weakness remains fully exploitable.
A.5.16 manages the lifecycle, uniqueness, and accountability of identities; it does not implement or strengthen authentication schemes against spoofing, so the CWE-290 exploit remains possible even when identities are correctly provisioned and tracked.
Authentication information management directly addresses credential handling that prevents spoofing.
A.5.18 governs the provisioning, review, and revocation of already-granted access rights to authenticated identities; it has no bearing on whether an authentication scheme can be spoofed or bypassed before any rights are assigned.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
- V-248827 OL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. blocks CWE-290
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
- V-204442 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have the rsh-server package installed. blocks CWE-290
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-230492 RHEL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. blocks CWE-290