A buffer overflow in D-Link routers (CVE-2022-37055) — the record notes the products may be end-of-life and tells users to discontinue use

1When fixing is not among the options

Responding to a vulnerability normally starts with applying an update. This record, however, notes that the supply of updates may itself have ended. End-of-life means sales and development have stopped; end-of-service means fixes and support enquiries are no longer handled. Under either, no correction arrives for a newly discovered fault. The record tells users to discontinue use because nothing else remains available to them.

2Equipment that stays in place

A router is the archetype of a device nobody touches while it keeps working. It does not raise update prompts the way a computer or a phone does, and models from years back carrying live traffic are unremarkable. From the perspective of an attacker it is a device permanently facing the internet, receiving no fixes, and owned by someone not thinking about updates.

That the record cites high impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability alike follows partly from a router being the entrance to the network itself.

3Discontinue-use wording appears on four records in ten

Of the 1,685 KEV records this site holds as of 2026-08-28, 702 — 41.7 percent — include discontinue-use wording in the required action. Most of those, though, are the standard formula conditioned on mitigations being unavailable. What differs here is that the statement appears inside the description of the vulnerability itself: users should discontinue product utilization.

It is written as the expected conclusion, not as a conditional option. Which specific models are affected is left to the vendor advisory and is not part of the catalog record.

4Fix it, or stop using it

The basic response to a vulnerability is to apply an update. This record, however, notes that the supply of updates may itself have ended. When it has, only one option remains.

End of life means sales and development have ended; end of support means fixes and enquiries are no longer answered. Under either, no fix arrives for a newly found fault. A router is the archetype of equipment nobody touches while it works, and from an attacker's view it is a device permanently facing the internet, receiving no fixes, whose owner never thinks about updating it.