Overview
A critical vulnerability has been found in MikroTik RouterOS 7, a popular operating system for routers. This vulnerability, cataloged as CVE-2025-10948, significantly impacts the router’s functionality, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage. As routers are often the first line of defense in a network, this vulnerability could potentially expose a network and its users to various forms of cyber-attacks, including unauthorized access, data theft, and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-10948
Severity: High (CVSS: 8.8)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise, potential data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
MikroTik | RouterOS 7
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability lies in the function parse_json_element of the file /rest/ip/address/print of the component libjson.so in MikroTik RouterOS. An attacker can manipulate data that leads to a buffer overflow condition. As a result, attackers can remotely execute arbitrary code on the affected system, potentially compromising the system or leading to data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example demonstrating how the vulnerability might be exploited. This example involves sending a malicious HTTP request to the vulnerable endpoint:
POST /rest/ip/address/print HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "overflow": "AAAAA....[continued until buffer overflow]" }In the above example, the ‘overflow’ field contains an artificially long string of ‘A’s designed to overflow the buffer, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution.
Mitigation Guidance
The best course of action to mitigate this vulnerability is to apply the vendor patch as soon as it is available. In the case where the vendor has not provided a patch or the patching is not immediately feasible, implementing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can provide temporary mitigation. It is crucial to regularly update and patch all systems to ensure the highest level of security.
