Hikvision - RCE (CVE-2021-36260)

CVE-2021-36260 is a critical command injection vulnerability affecting the web server of certain Hikvision products. Insufficient input validation allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands by sending specially crafted messages, potentially leading to full system compromise. This vulnerability can be exploited without authentication, making it a prime target for remote code execution attacks.

CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 11th of September 2025.

CrowdSec network data shows that most actors exploiting CVE-2021-36260 rely on broad, untargeted scans with minimal filtering. The activity is largely automated and opportunistic in nature. Additionally, according to week-over-week analysis by CrowdSec, exploitation of CVE-2021-36260 is surging. Attack volumes are spiking well above historical norms, indicating widespread and escalating interest from threat actors. CVE-2021-36260 is currently experiencing high visibility and active exploitation across the internet.

Attackers exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted PUT requests to the /SDK/webLanguage endpoint, injecting malicious commands within XML payloads to achieve remote command execution on Hikvision devices. Subsequent GET requests to the injected file path (e.g., /x) are used to verify successful exploitation.