External risk intelligence

Netgear R7000P Firmware Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

CVE advisorySeverity: CRITICAL (CVSS 9.8)

CVE-2022-44194

This vulnerability affects a home router device. Routers are designed as edge services that bridge internal networks to the public internet. While administrative interfaces are sometimes restricted to the local network, the nature of this hardware often results in management services being reachable or exposed in common deployment patterns.

Out-of-bounds Write

Netgear R7000p Firmware

1.3.0.8

Halo Surface Signal: 4 out of 5 — likely to be public-facing.

External exposure likelihood

Horizon Alert

Summary of the vulnerability and why it matters

This advisory concerns a critical security flaw in Netgear R7000P devices that could allow unauthorized access and control over network traffic. The vulnerability, a buffer overflow, is exploitable remotely without authentication, meaning attackers could potentially intercept or manipulate data passing through the affected routers. The main concern is confirming relevance and exposure.

Network devices have a critical remote access vulnerability.
Routers are edge services bridging internal and public networks.
Confirm relevance and exposure for network devices.

Attack Path

How an attacker could exploit the issue

An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending specially crafted requests to a vulnerable Netgear R7000P router. These requests target the router's web interface, specifically through parameters related to DNS settings in access point mode. If the router is configured in this mode, the malformed data can cause a buffer overflow, potentially allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code and gain control over the device.

Network access to the router.
Triggered via specific DNS parameters.
Remote code execution and device compromise.

Live Threat

Current exploitation, exposure, and threat context

This vulnerability could affect the network services and device configuration of the Netgear R7000P router when accessed through specific parameters. Under supported conditions, an unauthenticated attacker could potentially impact the device's availability and integrity.

Router configuration and availability.
Remote network access via vulnerable parameters.
Denial of service or configuration tampering.

Operational Fix

Recommended remediation, mitigation, and detection steps

Determine ownership by identifying the team responsible for the Netgear R7000P router, likely infrastructure or network operations, and confirm its exposure and criticality. Once ownership is confirmed, assess the business impact to prioritize remediation efforts, which may involve coordination with the vendor or applying available updates.

Infrastructure or network operations teams.
Confirm router exposure and criticality.
Plan remediation based on risk assessment.

Supplementary metadata

CVSS vector

Validate whether this threat affects your internet-facing exposure.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the Netgear R7000P?

The Netgear R7000P is a wireless router designed for home and small office network environments. It manages traffic between local devices—like computers and smartphones—and the public internet. Firmware version 1.3.0.8 serves as the operating system for this device, handling core routing tasks and the web-based administrative interface.

What does this buffer overflow vulnerability mean?

This flaw is classified as CWE-787, or Out-of-bounds Write. It occurs when a program writes more data to a temporary storage area, known as a buffer, than it is designed to hold. In this specific CVE, the router fails to properly validate inputs, allowing malformed data to overwrite adjacent memory, which can lead to unintended program behavior or unauthorized code execution.

How is this vulnerability triggered?

An attacker triggers this by sending specially crafted web requests to the router's interface using the 'apmode_dns1_pri' or 'apmode_dns1_sec' parameters. Crucially, the vulnerability requires the router to be configured in Access Point mode to be active. If your device is operating in its standard router mode rather than Access Point mode, these specific parameters are not processed in the vulnerable manner.

Do I need to worry if my router is behind a firewall?

Halo Surface Signal indicates that routers are edge services bridging internal and public networks, which often makes their management interfaces reachable from the internet. Even if you use a firewall, you should evaluate if your router's administrative interface is exposed externally. If it is accessible from the internet, it faces a higher risk of being reached by unauthorized requests targeting this flaw.

How should I respond to this threat?

Start by identifying all Netgear R7000P units in your environment and verifying their current firmware version. Once identified, consult the manufacturer's official support site to check for available firmware updates that address this issue. If an update is not immediately applicable, restrict access to the administrative web interface to trusted local network segments only to mitigate potential remote exploitation.

References

Written by Nicholas Merritt

Nicholas Merritt is VP of Security Solutions at Halo Security. With more than 25 years across application security, vulnerability prioritization, and offensive security, he helps teams translate threat data into practical exposure validation and remediation focus. He authors Halo Threat Intelligence CVE advisories using Halo Surface Signal and H/A/L/O context to prioritize internet-facing risk.