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VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2026-42376: D-Link DIR-456U Firmware · Use of Hard-coded Credentials

Affects D-Link DIR-456U FirmwareSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 9.8 Critical · end of life, no fix coming : replace or isolate D-Link DIR-456U Firmware; no fix will be released.

Data as of 31 Oct 2026, 20:20 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
9.8Critical
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Contested

Critical score, yet low EPSS after six months
EPSS
0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 39% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
None coming – the product is end of life
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 4 May 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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 31 Oct 2026.

What to do

No fix will be released: D-Link DIR-456U Firmware is end of life. Replace it, or isolate it from untrusted networks until you can.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
D-LinkDIR-456U FirmwareAffected
  • =A1
Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Users should consider replacing the affected hardware with a supported model. Network segmentation to restrict local network access to the device and disabling telnet access if possible may reduce exposure, but these are not guaranteed mitigations given the hardcoded backdoor.

Description

D-Link DIR-456U Hardware Revision A1 (End-of-Life, EOL) contains a hardcoded telnet backdoor. The device starts a telnet daemon at boot via /etc/init0.d/S80telnetd.sh with the username "Alphanetworks" and the static password "whdrv01_dlob_dir456U" read from /etc/config/image_sign. The custom telnetd binary accepts a -u user:password flag, and the custom login binary uses strcmp() to validate credentials. Successful authentication grants an unauthenticated attacker on the local network a root shell with full administrative control. The device has reached End-of-Life (EOL) and will not receive patches.

References

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