Description

Dell PowerProtect One, versions 20.1.0.0 and below, contain a Stack-based Buffer Overflow vulnerability. An unauthenticated attacker with remote access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to Denial of service.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "7.5",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-26T20:17:57.833Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-26T20:17:57.833Z",
  "executiveSummary": "Dell PowerProtect versions 20.1.0.0 and below are susceptible to a Stack-based Buffer Overflow vulnerability.\nThis flaw resides in the handling of incoming data packets, allowing an unauthenticated remote attacker to trigger a memory corruption condition.\nSuccessful exploitation results in a Denial of Service (DoS) state, potentially causing the service to crash or become unresponsive.\nThe vulnerability poses a significant risk to system availability, as it requires no prior authentication or administrative privileges to execute.\nAttackers can leverage network access to reach the vulnerable component, sending malformed input designed to overflow the stack buffer and disrupt system operations.\nOrganizations using affected versions of Dell PowerProtect are at risk of service interruption and must prioritize defensive measures to mitigate unauthorized exploitation attempts.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is a Stack-based Buffer Overflow occurring within the Dell PowerProtect data processing subsystem.\nThe root cause involves the application's failure to perform adequate boundary checking when copying user-supplied input into fixed-size memory buffers located on the process stack.\nWhen an unauthenticated attacker transmits a specially crafted, oversized data packet to the vulnerable service over the network, the input exceeds the buffer's allocated capacity.\nThis overflow allows the attacker to overwrite adjacent memory, including critical stack management structures such as the saved return pointer or frame pointer.\nBy controlling the return address, the attacker can manipulate the execution flow of the application; however, in the context of this specific vulnerability, the primary outcome is the corruption of the process stack integrity.\nThe resulting memory corruption triggers an unhandled exception or a segmentation fault, leading to the immediate termination of the service or the process handling the request.\nBecause the vulnerability is reachable without authentication, it exposes the system to remote exploitation from any network segment capable of communicating with the Dell PowerProtect appliance.\nThe attack flow follows a sequential process: first, the attacker identifies the service endpoint; second, the attacker constructs a payload that provides input exceeding the expected buffer size; third, the attacker sends this malicious sequence to the target service; fourth, the application processes the input, triggers the overflow, corrupts the stack, and crashes the service.\nThis vulnerability affects Dell PowerProtect versions 20.1.0.0 and below. Given that the overflow occurs on the stack, the exploit effectively bypasses standard access control mechanisms, as the vulnerable function processes input prior to session validation or authentication checks.\nThe post-exploitation impact is limited to a Denial of Service scenario where the service becomes unavailable until a manual or automated restart occurs, although continued exploitation could prevent reliable service recovery."
}