Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessAuthenticate low-privilege WinBox account
-
DeliveryComplete stage-one EC-SRP proof
-
ExploitSupply admin as stage-two username
-
ExecutionReceive full admin session
-
ImpactEscalate attacker's own account privileges
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Authorization logic validation
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires the attacker to possess valid credentials for an existing low-privilege RouterOS account that is explicitly permitted to use the WinBox service, and requires the WinBox management interface to be network-reachable from the attacker. No password for the targeted high-privilege account (e.g. admin) is needed - the attacker simply supplies the target username at stage two of the EC-SRP flow. Exploitation is limited by the need for one valid low-privilege WinBox-enabled credential (PR:L, not unauthenticated) and by whether WinBox is exposed to the attacker's network; restricting WinBox access by address, disabling it, or removing WinBox permission from low-privilege accounts reduces exposure until patched to a fixed RouterOS release (per the referenced 7.24.5 stable changelog / 7.25rc1). |
| Impact | This is a genuine high-priority issue for any MikroTik RouterOS operator exposing WinBox. The CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N) describes a network-reachable, low-complexity attack requiring only a single low-privilege but WinBox-permitted account, with no user interaction. Impact is rated VC:H/VI:H/VA:H because the flaw yields a full administrative session, and the attacker can then permanently escalate their own account - effectively total device compromise. The underlying weakness (CWE-863, incorrect authorization) is a logic flaw in the EC-SRP handshake where stage-one authentication is validated against the attacker's account but stage-two privileges are installed for an independently supplied target username; this is deterministic and reliable rather than a probabilistic memory-corruption bug, so working exploitation is straightforward once understood. No EPSS score, CISA KEV listing, or explicit POC/exploit-code flag was provided in the input, so predicted exploitation probability and active-exploitation status cannot be quantified from this data; the presence of a dedicated public technical write-up (br2sec.com) and a CERT.LV coordinated-disclosure record suggests the mechanism is publicly understood even if weaponized code is not confirmed. The main mitigating factor is the PR:L prerequisite - the attacker must already hold valid credentials for a low-privilege WinBox-enabled account - which narrows this from a pure unauthenticated breach to an insider/compromised-credential or multi-tenant privilege-escalation scenario. Net: treat as high priority where low-privilege WinBox accounts exist or WinBox is network-exposed; the low complexity and deterministic logic offset the authentication requirement. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker holding credentials for a low-privilege RouterOS account that is permitted to use WinBox initiates the EC-SRP handshake, completing the stage-one challenge and proof with their own account. In stage two they supply a different username such as 'admin', and the device installs that account's authorization policy onto the session, granting a full administrative session without ever knowing the admin password; the attacker then uses it to permanently elevate their own account. A public technical write-up describing the handshake flaw exists, but no confirmed exploit-code flag or active-exploitation signal was provided in the input. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 12, 2026
An incorrect authorization flaw in the WinBox authentication flow of MikroTik RouterOS lets a remote authenticated attacker who holds valid credentials for a low-privilege, WinBox-permitted account take over the authorization policy of a different, higher-privileged account such as admin. The EC-SRP stage-one challenge and proof are validated against the attacker's own account, but the separately supplied stage-two username determines which privilege policy gets installed, so the attacker ends up with a full administrative session without ever knowing the admin password, and can then use it to elevate their own account. Coverage across ENISA and CERT.LV reporting with a CVSS 4.0 score of 8.7 indicates a high-severity, network-reachable issue; no public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis. The assessed vector is CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, meaning exploitation requires one valid low-privilege WinBox-enabled credential and network reachability to the WinBox service.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: upgrade RouterOS to 7.24.5 (stable) or 7.25rc1, per the referenced changelogs at https://mikrotik.com/download/changelogs?channelFilter=stable&versionFilter=7.24.5 and https://forum.mikrotik.com/t/7-25rc1-testing-is-released/27352; until the upgrade is applied, treat every WinBox-exposed device as a potential privilege-escalation path and assume any low-privilege WinBox credential is effectively an admin credential. The most effective compensating control is to remove network reachability to WinBox from untrusted sources: restrict the service with the router's IP service address list (the /ip service 'address' field) to a small set of management hosts, or disable the WinBox service entirely and manage via SSH or the serial/console port - the trade-off is loss of the graphical client and administrative lockout if address restrictions are misconfigured, so validate from an out-of-band path first. Additionally, remove WinBox permission from low-privilege accounts (group policy) so that no unprivileged identity can reach the vulnerable auth path, accepting that this breaks legitimate delegated GUI access. Because a successful exploit yields an administrative session, review RouterOS logs for unusual WinBox authentication sequences - mismatched stage-one/stage-two usernames are the distinctive signal - and rotate credentials and audit account policies on any device where a low-privilege WinBox account may have been compromised.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
RouterOS WinBox authentication uses EC-SRP (Elliptic Curve Secure Remote Password), a password-authenticated key exchange in which the server issues a challenge and the client returns a proof derived from the shared secret. The design assumes a single, coherent authentication context: the identity proven in stage one should be the identity whose authorization policy is applied. CVE-2026-103903 breaks that binding. During the multi-stage handshake, the server verifies the stage-one challenge and proof using the attacker's (low-privilege) account, but then honors an independently supplied stage-two username when selecting and installing the privilege policy. Because the stage-two username is not cryptographically bound to the stage-one proof, an attacker can prove possession of their own password while naming 'admin' or any other existing account in stage two, and the router will hand back a session carrying that account's privileges. The root cause is CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization) - the server performs authentication correctly but performs authorization against an unvalidated, attacker-controlled identity field rather than the authenticated identity. The affected component is the WinBox management service, identified generically by CPE cpe:2.3:a:mikrotik:routeros:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*; the disclosed fix references the 7.24.5 stable changelog and the 7.25rc1 testing release, so all RouterOS builds prior to that fixed release should be treated as vulnerable.
Know when Routeros gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Network-reachable WinBox with a required low-privilege account gives AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N; full admin takeover yields C:H/I:H/A:H with scope unchanged (S:U) as compromise stays within the device.
Primary rating from Vendor (ENISA).
CVSS VectorVendor: ENISA
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
An incorrect authorization vulnerability in the WinBox authentication flow of MikroTik RouterOS allows a remote authenticated attacker with credentials for a low-privilege account permitted to use WinBox to obtain the authorization policy of a different existing account. The stage-one EC-SRP challenge and proof are verified using the attacker's account, while the independently supplied stage-two username is used to install the target account's privileges. By specifying a higher-privilege account such as admin, a low-privilege user can obtain a full administrative session without knowing the target account's password and can use that session to increase the privileges of the attacker's own account.
Executive ViewAI
An incorrect authorization flaw in the WinBox authentication flow of MikroTik RouterOS (CVE-2026-103903) lets anyone holding a valid low-privilege WinBox-enabled credential obtain a full administrative session without knowing the administrator password. Because RouterOS devices typically enforce routing, firewall, VPN and segmentation policy at the network edge, a single compromised or shared helpdesk-level account could hand an attacker control over organization-wide connectivity and security controls. No vendor patch is currently available, so this remains an unmitigated, network-reachable privilege-escalation risk that security leadership should prioritize for compensating controls.
No vendor-released patch is identified at time of analysis; interim mitigations include disabling or restricting WinBox (TCP 8291) to trusted management networks, eliminating or rotating low-privilege WinBox-permitted accounts, enforcing MFA-protected jump hosts for administrative access, replacing WinBox with SSH key-based management where feasible, and monitoring authentication and authorization-policy changes for signs of unauthorized administrative sessions.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
Privilege escalation in MikroTik RouterOS lets a remote, unauthenticated attacker abuse the SSH login helper to rewrite
Remote unauthenticated exploitation of MikroTik RouterOS's Bandwidth Test (btest) service allows two distinct attacks: k
SSH authentication bypass in MikroTik RouterOS allows any unauthenticated network attacker to skip the entire SSH user-a
A vulnerability in the network stack of MikroTik Version 6.38.5 released 2017-03-09 could allow an unauthenticated remot
The MikroTik Router hAP Lite 6.25 has no protection mechanism for unsolicited TCP ACK packets in the case of a fast netw
The container package in MikroTik RouterOS 7.4beta4 allows an attacker to create mount points pointing to symbolic links
A buffer overflow was found in the MikroTik RouterOS SMB service when processing NetBIOS session request messages. Rated
Authentication bypass in MikroTik RouterOS lets a remote unauthenticated attacker log in over SSH as an authorized user
MikroTik RouterOS through 6.42 allows unauthenticated remote attackers to read arbitrary files and remote authenticated
Mikrotik RouterOs before stable v7.5 was discovered to contain an out-of-bounds read in the hotspot process. Rated high
Mikrotik RouterOS before 6.42.7 and 6.40.9 is vulnerable to stack buffer overflow through the license upgrade interface.
Unauthenticated file read in MikroTik RouterOS WebFig exposes root-owned configuration files - including credential stor
EUVD-2026-97325
GHSA-23wm-v672-9cvc
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Exploit-DB