Netgear has resolved a high severity Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in the Circle parental control service, on several Netgear Small Office / Home Office (SOHO) routers. What makes this vulnerability particularly interesting is that, although it exists in a third-party component included in the firmware, it is just as harmful as a vulnerability that exists in Netgear's kernel firmware, due to the fact that Circle works with permissions of root. . . “The Circle update daemon containing the vulnerability is enabled to run by default, even if you have not configured your router to use parental control features. While this does not resolve the underlying issue, simply disabling the vulnerable code when Circle is not in use would have prevented the exploit on most devices,” notes Adam Nichols, a researcher at GRIMM Cybersecurity Experts. Nichols suggests that the vulnerability serves as a warning and helps demonstrate the importance of reducing the attack surface.