This repository documents the exploitation of CVE-2019-1663, a critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability affecting Cisco RV110W, RV130W, and RV215W Wireless-N VPN routers.
Due to insufficient input validation within the web management interface, an unauthenticated attacker can execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges on the device.
This project was conducted as part of a cybersecurity learning program to strengthen practical offensive security skills on embedded systems.
Understand the underlying root cause of the vulnerability.
Develop a working exploit reliably achieving code execution.
Perform debugging and analysis of embedded ARM systems.
Highlight the real-world risks of insecure firmware design.
Type of vulnerability: Stack-based buffer overflow.
Trigger: Crafted HTTP POST requests to the router’s web interface.
Overflow size: Code execution achieved after 446 bytes (discovered with a fuzzing).
Architecture: ARM → exploitation performed using ROP gadgets.
Impact: Full system compromise without authentication.
Debugging and exploit development were performed within an emulated environment using emux, providing full access to the router's firmware and processes:
Launching the firmware in a virtualized environment.
Attaching the vulnerable httpd process to gdb for live debugging.
Sending controlled payloads and observing memory corruption in real time.
Identifying offsets and ROP gadgets via firmware extraction and analysis.
This approach allowed safe, flexible, and repeatable testing — without needing physical hardware.
Path : : Purpose
exploit-cve-2019-1663.py : : Python scripts to trigger the overflow and gain command execution
rev_shell.py : : Reverse shell listener handling input/output streams
📌 Documentation and improvements are actively ongoing — suggestions welcome!
If you want to discuss security research or improvements to this project, feel free to reach out or open an issue. Happy hacking! 😄
