Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-3661

MediumPublic PoC

Published: 07 March 2026

Published
07 March 2026
Modified
10 March 2026
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v4 5.1 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/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 0.0024 47.8th percentile
Risk Priority 10 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-3661 is a medium-severity Injection (CWE-74) vulnerability in Wavlink Wl-Nu516U1 Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 5.1 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 47.8th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and AC-6 (Least Privilege).

Deeper analysis

CVE-2026-3661 is a command injection vulnerability affecting the Wavlink WL-NU516U1 firmware version 240425. The flaw resides in the ota_new_upgrade function within the /cgi-bin/adm.cgi file, where manipulation of the model argument enables injection of arbitrary commands. It is remotely exploitable and classified under CWE-74 and CWE-77, with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.7 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L).

Attackers require high privileges, such as administrative access, to exploit this vulnerability over the network with low complexity and no user interaction. Successful exploitation grants limited impact, allowing low-level disclosure of information, modification of data, or denial of service.

References, including VulDB entries (ctiid.349550, id.349550, submit.758227) and a GitHub repository at jinhao118/cve/blob/main/WAVLINK_1.md, indicate that a public exploit is available for use. The vendor was contacted early about the disclosure, published on 2026-03-07.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

A flaw has been found in Wavlink WL-NU516U1 240425. This affects the function ota_new_upgrade of the file /cgi-bin/adm.cgi. This manipulation of the argument model causes command injection. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. The exploit has been published…

more

and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

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.
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
Why these techniques?

Command injection in exposed CGI endpoint (/cgi-bin/adm.cgi) directly enables remote arbitrary Unix command execution on the device firmware after valid admin authentication.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-2615Same product: Wavlink Wl-Nu516U1
CVE-2026-3662Same product: Wavlink Wl-Nu516U1
CVE-2026-3612Same product: Wavlink Wl-Nu516U1
CVE-2026-8191Same product: Wavlink Wl-Nu516U1
CVE-2026-8227Same product: Wavlink Wl-Nu516U1
CVE-2026-8190Same product: Wavlink Wl-Nu516U1
CVE-2026-8188Same product: Wavlink Wl-Nu516U1
CVE-2026-8192Same product: Wavlink Wl-Nu516U1
CVE-2026-8228Same product: Wavlink Wl-Nu516U1
CVE-2026-8189Same product: Wavlink Wl-Nu516U1

Affected Assets

wavlink
wl-nu516u1 firmware
m16u1_v240425

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly mitigates the command injection by enforcing validation and sanitization of the model argument passed to ota_new_upgrade in adm.cgi.

prevent

Limits the number of accounts with the high privileges required to reach and exploit the vulnerable CGI function.

prevent

Restricts unnecessary firmware functions or CGI endpoints, reducing exposure of the ota_new_upgrade code path.

References