Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-22968

RCE in Dlink Dwr-M972V Firmware 1.05ssg

Public PoCRCE
Published
15 January 2025
Modified
21 May 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.025 83th percentile
Risk Priority 90 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-22968 is a critical-severity Code Injection (CWE-94) vulnerability in Dlink Dwr-M972V Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked in the top 17% 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.

CVE-2025-22968 is a critical remote code execution vulnerability affecting the D-Link DWR-M972V router running firmware version 1.05SSG. The flaw, tracked under CWE-94, permits unrestricted arbitrary code execution over SSH by leveraging the root account without any authentication or access controls.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can connect directly to the device's SSH service and execute commands with full root privileges, leading to complete device compromise including configuration changes, traffic interception, or persistence mechanisms. The vulnerability carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8, reflecting network-accessible exploitation with no prerequisites.

D-Link's security bulletin page references available patches and firmware updates for affected models, while public repositories provide proof-of-concept code demonstrating the SSH-based attack path. The EPSS score stands at 0.4206 with no indicated rise from a lower baseline.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An issue in D-Link DWR-M972V 1.05SSG allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code via SSH using root account without restrictions

CWE(s)

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.
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.002 AppleScript Execution
Adversaries may abuse AppleScript for execution.
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.005 Visual Basic Execution
Adversaries may abuse Visual Basic (VB) for execution.
T1059.006 Python Execution
Adversaries may abuse Python commands and scripts for execution.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-44411Same vendor: Dlink
CVE-2023-49004Same vendor: Dlink
CVE-2025-29039Same vendor: Dlink
CVE-2024-39962Same vendor: Dlink
CVE-2024-48168Same vendor: Dlink
CVE-2026-7027Same vendor: Dlink
CVE-2025-4860Same vendor: Dlink
CVE-2024-44410Same vendor: Dlink
CVE-2025-8155Same vendor: Dlink
CVE-2026-1744Same vendor: Dlink

Affected Assets

dlink
dwr-m972v firmware
1.05ssg

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)
  • V1.3.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation finds code paths that accept and execute externally influenced strings.

Input validation directly stops untrusted data from being used to construct executable code without neutralization.

Least privilege limits the damage an injected code fragment can perform once executed.

Requiring documented secure development standards and tools enforces use of safe code-generation APIs and escaping.

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

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly target injection flaws via secure coding and testing (mostly), yet as a single broad outcome it leaves many code-generation specifics unaddressed (partial).

PR.DS-10 none match
prevents

PR.DS-10 protects runtime data confidentiality/integrity but has no bearing on neutralizing externally influenced input during code generation, so neither direction shows any preventive effect.

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.

prevents

Banning unapproved code samples and unauthenticated web services, combined with secure-coding standards and SAST, prevents the dynamic generation or inclusion of attacker-supplied code.

none

Controls that restrict unauthorized or malicious code from being introduced via external networks or removable media limit opportunities for an attacker to inject and execute arbitrary code.

References