CVE-2021-31505

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2021-06-29 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-798

Description

This vulnerability allows attackers with physical access to escalate privileges on affected installations of Arlo Q Plus 1.9.0.3_278. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the SSH service. The device can be booted into a special operation mode where hard-coded credentials are accepted for SSH authentication. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of root. Was ZDI-CAN-12890.

Affected products

Arlo Q Plus: 1.9.0.3_278

References

https://kb.arlo.com/000062592/Security-Advisory-for-Arlo-Q-Plus-SSH-Use-of-Hard-coded-Credentials-Allowing-Privilege-Escalation
https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-21-683/
https://kb.arlo.com/000062592/Security-Advisory-for-Arlo-Q-Plus-SSH-Use-of-Hard-coded-Credentials-Allowing-Privilege-Escalation
https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-21-683/

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