CVE-2022-41480 is a high-severity buffer overflow vulnerability identified in the firmware version V15.03.06.51 of the Tenda AC1200 US_AC6V2.0RTL router model. The vulnerability exists in a specific function located at memory address 0x475dc, where improper handling of input data allows an attacker to overflow a buffer. This flaw can be triggered remotely by sending a crafted request to the device, without requiring any authentication or user interaction. Exploitation of this vulnerability leads to a Denial of Service (DoS) condition, causing the router to crash or become unresponsive, thereby disrupting network connectivity. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-120 (Classic Buffer Overflow), indicating that the root cause is a failure to properly validate or limit input size before copying data into a fixed-length buffer. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 7.5, reflecting the network attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction, and impact limited to availability (no confidentiality or integrity impact). No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no official patches or mitigations have been published by the vendor as of the information provided. This vulnerability poses a significant risk to environments relying on the affected Tenda router firmware, as attackers can remotely disrupt network services by causing device crashes.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability primarily manifests as network availability disruption. Since the Tenda AC1200 router is commonly used in small office/home office (SOHO) and some enterprise edge deployments, exploitation could lead to loss of internet connectivity or internal network segmentation, affecting business operations, remote work, and critical communications. The lack of confidentiality or integrity impact reduces the risk of data breaches; however, the DoS condition could be leveraged as part of a larger attack chain or to cause operational downtime. Organizations relying on these routers for perimeter or internal network routing may experience service outages, impacting productivity and potentially leading to financial losses or reputational damage. Additionally, in sectors with stringent availability requirements such as healthcare, finance, or critical infrastructure, even temporary network outages could have serious consequences. The absence of patches increases the urgency for mitigation, especially in environments where these devices are exposed to untrusted networks or the internet.

Given the absence of official patches, European organizations should implement the following specific mitigations: 1) Immediately identify and inventory all Tenda AC1200 US_AC6V2 routers running the vulnerable firmware version. 2) Restrict remote management interfaces and block all unsolicited inbound traffic to these devices at the network perimeter using firewalls or access control lists (ACLs) to prevent exposure to crafted malicious requests. 3) Disable any unnecessary services or remote administration features on the affected routers to reduce the attack surface. 4) Where possible, segment the network to isolate vulnerable devices from critical assets and sensitive data. 5) Monitor network traffic for anomalous or malformed packets targeting the router’s management interfaces that could indicate exploitation attempts. 6) Engage with the vendor or authorized support channels to obtain firmware updates or patches as they become available. 7) Consider replacing vulnerable devices with models that have active security support and timely patching. 8) Implement network redundancy and failover mechanisms to minimize operational impact in case of device failure due to exploitation.