Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-0528

RCE in Tenda Ac8 Firmware 16.03.10.20

Public PoCRCECommand Injection
Published
17 January 2025
Modified
28 May 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v4 8.6
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.059 93th percentile
Risk Priority 38 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-0528 is a high-severity Injection (CWE-74) vulnerability in Tenda Ac8 Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 8.6 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked in the top 7% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — 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.

A command injection vulnerability exists in the HTTP Request Handler component of Tenda AC8, AC10, and AC18 routers running firmware 16.03.10.20. The flaw resides in the /goform/telnet endpoint, where unsanitized input allows arbitrary command execution. It is tracked as CVE-2025-0528, carries a CVSS 4.0 score of 8.6, and maps to CWE-74, CWE-77, and CWE-78.

An attacker with high privileges can send a crafted HTTP request to the affected endpoint from a remote network position. Successful exploitation grants the ability to execute operating-system commands, resulting in full control over confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the device without requiring user interaction.

Public exploit code has been released, and the EPSS score rose from a low baseline to a peak of 0.0559 on 2025-12-11 before receding to its current value of 0.0124, indicating measurable post-disclosure interest. Vendor advisories and the referenced Tenda site provide no specific mitigation guidance in the available references.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Tenda AC8, AC10 and AC18 16.03.10.20. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the file /goform/telnet of the component HTTP Request Handler. The manipulation leads to command…

more

injection. The attack may be launched remotely. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used.

CWE(s)
CWE-74CWE-77CWE-78

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse the Windows command shell for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1221 Template Injection Stealth
Adversaries may create or modify references in user document templates to conceal malicious code or force authentication attempts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1659 Content Injection Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access and continuously communicate with victims by injecting malicious content into systems through online network traffic.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-11121Same product: Tenda Ac18
CVE-2025-5606Same product: Tenda Ac18
CVE-2026-4554Same vendor: Tenda
CVE-2026-5547Same product: Tenda Ac10
CVE-2026-4253Same product: Tenda Ac8
CVE-2025-7415Same vendor: Tenda
CVE-2025-9090Same vendor: Tenda
CVE-2026-5339Same vendor: Tenda
CVE-2026-1689Same vendor: Tenda
CVE-2026-0581Same vendor: Tenda

Affected Assets

tenda
ac8 firmware
16.03.10.20
tenda
ac10 firmware
16.03.10.20
tenda
ac18 firmware
16.03.10.20

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.2.1
  • V1.2.3
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover command-construction flaws before deployment.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

SI-10 directly requires validation of information inputs to reject malformed or special-element content before it reaches downstream parsers.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match

Least privilege reduces the permissions available to any process that could be subverted by injected commands.

CM-7 Least Functionality partial match

Least functionality restricts available OS commands and interpreters, limiting the blast radius of injection.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Secure engineering principles include proper neutralization and safe command construction practices.

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and output encoding that prevent injection flaws.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Runtime monitoring of software and data can detect anomalous command execution resulting from injection.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Identifying recorded vulnerabilities enables remediation of command-injection flaws before exploitation.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).

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.8.28 Secure coding mostly match
prevents

Secure coding standards require proper escaping and parameterization of commands, directly eliminating CWE-77.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development catches injection vulnerabilities before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging supports detection of injection attempts but does not prevent the weakness.

A.8.16 Monitoring activities partial match
finds

Monitoring activities can identify active injection attacks after they occur.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and output encoding that directly prevent injection flaws.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against injection attacks in software design.

References