Is CVE-2023-40478 actively exploited?

No active exploitation of CVE-2023-40478 has been confirmed so far. Continue monitoring, as exploit status can change.

Can CVE-2023-40478 be exploited remotely?

Partially. CVE-2023-40478 requires adjacent network access (same network segment) to exploit.

What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-40478?

CVE-2023-40478 has a CVSS score of 6.8 (MEDIUM).

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MEDIUM

CVE-2023-40478

CWE-121Published: May 3, 2024· Updated: Jun 17, 2026

6.8

CVSS v3.1

Official Description

NETGEAR RAX30 Telnet CLI passwd Stack-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows network-adjacent attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of NETGEAR RAX30 routers. Although authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability, the existing authentication mechanism can be bypassed.

The specific flaw exists within the telnet CLI service, which listens on TCP port 23. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a fixed-length stack-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of root. Was ZDI-CAN-20009.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2023-40478 requires adjacent network access, limiting remote exploitation but still posing risk in shared or local network environments.

Exploitation requires high privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.

A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 6.8.