How broadly exploitable is this vulnerability?

The exploitability depends on how the router is deployed. If remote management is exposed to the internet or weak/default credentials are used, an external attacker may be able to abuse the `/etc/shadow.sample` behavior. In more locked-down environments, an attacker might first need some form of local or low-privileged access.

Does an attacker need valid credentials to exploit this?

Not necessarily. In some scenarios, knowledge of default or sample-based credentials, or the ability to influence configuration restore or initialization flows, may be enough. However, in other deployments, at least some level of access to management interfaces or the filesystem may be required.

What is the safest general fix pattern?

The most robust pattern is to remove or strictly isolate sample credential files from any live authentication path, enforce proper permissions on all credential stores, and ensure that account creation or restoration logic never implicitly trusts template or default data for privileged roles.

Severity:

CRITICAL RISK

(9.8)

Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269) via /etc/shadow.sample in D-Link DIR-1253 MESH

CVE-2025-29165

Published:

Mar 5, 2026

Status:

Received

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

NDV

Recent Vulnerabilities

CWE-78

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.9)

Command Injection in MCP Stdio Configuration Validation (CWE-78) in WeKnora

Remote Code Execution

March 7, 2026

CWE-89

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.9)

SQL Injection via PostgreSQL Array/Row Expressions (CWE-89) in WeKnora Query Engine

Remote Code Execution via SQL Injection on the Database Server

March 7, 2026

Vulnerability Type

Category:

Improper Privilege Management

CWE:

CWE-269

Impact:

Privilege Escalation to Administrative Control of the Device

Severity:

CRITICAL RISK

(9.8)

CVSS Version:

3.1

Vulnerability Type

Category:

Improper Privilege Management

CWE:

CWE-269

Impact:

Privilege Escalation to Administrative Control of the Device

Severity:

CRITICAL RISK

(9.8)

CVSS Version:

3.1

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Ask AI for summary of CodeAnt

Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269) via /etc/shadow.sample in D-Link DIR-1253 MESH

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

Recent Vulnerabilities

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.9)

Command Injection in MCP Stdio Configuration Validation (CWE-78) in WeKnora

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.9)

SQL Injection via PostgreSQL Array/Row Expressions (CWE-89) in WeKnora Query Engine

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Catch This CVE While Code Is Being Written

Ship clean & secure code faster

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