Amazon Echo Dot devices through 2021-07-02 sometimes allow attackers, who have physical access to a device after a factory reset, to obtain sensitive information via a series of complex hardware and software attacks. NOTE: reportedly, there were vendor marketing statements about safely removing personal content via a factory reset. Also, the vendor has reportedly indicated that they are working on mitigations.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-37436 is rated Low Risk (24/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.28%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-06-15 | 0.09% | 0.28% | +0.19% |
| 2 | 2025-03-30 | 0.18% | 0.09% | -0.09% |
| 3 | 2025-03-29 | — | 0.18% | — |
Full EPSS history (8 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.2 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
0.5 | 3.6 | [email protected] |
| 1.9 | 2.0 | LOW |
|
3.4 | 2.9 | [email protected] |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| amazon | echo_dot_firmware | <= 2021-07-02 | cpe:2.3:o:amazon:echo_dot_firmware:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/07/passwords-in-amazon-echo-dots-live-on-even-after-you-factory-reset-them/ | Third Party Advisory |
| https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3448300.3467820 | Technical Description Third Party Advisory |
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27943730 | Third Party Advisory |
| https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/is-it-possible-to-make-iot-devices-private-amazon-echo-dot-does-not-wipe-personal-content-after-factory-reset/ | Third Party Advisory |