Description

Dell PowerStore contains an Authentication Bypass by Spoofing vulnerability. An authenticated attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability to escalate privileges to Administrator.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "8.8",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-01T13:19:52.303Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-01T13:19:52.303Z",
  "executiveSummary": "This vulnerability involves an authentication bypass mechanism within Dell PowerStore, categorized as an improper authentication vulnerability. The flaw allows an authenticated attacker to manipulate or spoof authentication tokens or credentials to elevate their system privileges.\nThe vulnerability directly impacts the administrative access control plane of the Dell PowerStore appliance. By successfully exploiting this weakness, a low-privileged authenticated user can achieve Administrator-level access, effectively bypassing the principle of least privilege.\nThe primary risk implication is a total compromise of the storage appliance management interface. An attacker who has achieved administrative privileges can execute arbitrary management tasks, modify storage configurations, access sensitive data stored on the appliance, or disrupt service availability.\nExploitation requires the attacker to possess valid, low-privileged credentials for the Dell PowerStore system. Once authenticated, the attacker leverages the flaw in the authentication handling logic to spoof the identity of a higher-privileged user or bypass the authorization checks inherent in the administrative API endpoints.\nThis vulnerability highlights a critical failure in the validation or processing of authentication assertions, necessitating immediate attention to ensure that administrative sessions are strictly enforced and securely validated.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability manifests as an authentication bypass via spoofing, originating from a flaw in how the Dell PowerStore management software processes and validates authentication context for logged-in sessions. In secure architectures, the authentication service should strictly verify the identity and permissions associated with a session token against a backend identity store. In this specific case, the mechanism used to identify the user's role appears susceptible to manipulation.\nThe root cause lies in the application's failure to properly sanitize or cryptographically verify the user identity claims provided during specific administrative API requests. When an authenticated user submits a request to a protected administrative endpoint, the system relies on session-based identity information that can be spoofed or altered by an attacker to represent a higher-privileged account.\nThe attack flow begins with the attacker establishing a legitimate, low-privileged session on the Dell PowerStore management interface. Once the session is active, the attacker identifies the API calls associated with administrative functions, such as system configuration updates, user management, or data access controls. By intercepting these requests, the attacker can manipulate the parameters or headers that define the user's security context.\nBecause the underlying authentication service fails to re-verify the identity claim against the session token effectively, the system accepts the spoofed credentials or identity claims as legitimate. The application subsequently authorizes the request as if it were initiated by an Administrator, allowing the attacker to perform unauthorized actions across the appliance's management suite.\nThe scope of impact is comprehensive. By gaining Administrator-level privileges, the attacker can gain full control over the storage environment. This includes, but is not limited to, the modification of logical unit numbers (LUNs), the deletion of snapshots, modification of encryption settings, and potential exfiltration of metadata. Furthermore, the attacker could establish persistent backdoors, such as creating new rogue administrative accounts, ensuring ongoing access even if the primary spoofing mechanism is later remediated.\nThe vulnerability is restricted to the management plane and requires prior network access to the Dell PowerStore management interface. It does not provide a path for unauthenticated access, as the prerequisite remains the possession of valid, lower-privileged credentials for the targeted system."
}