VulnerabilityPublished 20 Aug 2025

CVE-2025-55498: Tenda AC6 · Stack-based Buffer Overflow

Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 33% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 20 Aug 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

AI-suggested

Organizations should first identify any Tenda AC6 routers running firmware version V15.03.06.23_multi within their networks. Until an official patch is released, the following specific mitigations are recommended: 1) Restrict access to the router's management interfaces (web UI, APIs) to trusted internal networks only, using firewall rules or VLAN segmentation. 2) Disable remote management features if enabled, especially those accessible from the internet. 3) Monitor network traffic for unusual patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts targeting the time parameter or related functions. 4) Implement network segmentation to isolate critical assets from devices using vulnerable routers. 5) Regularly check for firmware updates from Tenda and apply patches promptly once available. 6) Consider replacing vulnerable devices with models from vendors with stronger security track records if patching is delayed. 7) Employ intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) with signatures or anomaly detection capabilities that could identify exploitation attempts. 8) Educate IT staff about the vulnerability and encourage vigilance for signs of compromise related to router behavior or network anomalies.

Description

Tenda AC6 V15.03.06.23_multi was discovered to contain a buffer overflow via the time parameter in the fromSetSysTime function.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to network security and operational continuity. Compromise of a Tenda AC6 router could allow attackers to intercept, modify, or redirect network traffic, undermining confidentiality and integrity of communications. Attackers could also use the compromised router as a foothold to launch further attacks within the internal network, including lateral movement to critical systems. The availability of the network could be disrupted if the router is crashed or rebooted repeatedly by exploiting the overflow. Given that routers are often deployed at the perimeter of organizational networks, this vulnerability could facilitate man-in-the-middle attacks, data exfiltration, or insertion of malicious payloads into network traffic. The absence of a patch increases the window of exposure, especially if the device is accessible from untrusted networks. Additionally, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and home offices in Europe use consumer-grade routers like the Tenda AC6, potentially broadening the impact beyond large enterprises. The lack of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk, but the vulnerability's presence in widely deployed network infrastructure warrants urgent attention to prevent future exploitation.

CWE-121Stack-based Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #14
A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function).
Operation · Build and Compilation · Environment Hardening
Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index…
Architecture and Design
Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
Implementation
Implement and perform bounds checking on input.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

github.com/SolitaryGrass/IoT_vuln/blob/main/tenda/AC6/AC6V2.0RTL_V15.03.06.23/fromSetSysTime/poc.md (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 20 Aug 2025, 15:03 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-121

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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