Description

Dell PowerStore contains an Incorrect Authorization vulnerability. An authenticated attacker with low privileges could potentially exploit this vulnerability to invoke administrator-only operations, leading to privilege escalation.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "8.8",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-01T12:17:47.113Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-01T12:17:47.113Z",
  "executiveSummary": "Dell PowerStore is susceptible to an Incorrect Authorization vulnerability that facilitates unauthorized privilege escalation. This security flaw originates from a failure to adequately enforce access control policies for sensitive management operations.\nThe vulnerability allows an authenticated attacker possessing low-privileged access to invoke administrative functions reserved exclusively for high-privileged users. By bypassing established authorization checks, a malicious actor can gain elevated command execution capabilities within the storage appliance.\nThe primary risk involves the compromise of the management interface, potentially leading to unauthorized data access, system configuration modification, or full administrative control of the storage environment.\nExploitation requires an attacker to already possess authenticated, low-privilege access to the target Dell PowerStore system. No remote unauthenticated access is required, but the impact of a successful exploit is critical, as it undermines the integrity and confidentiality of the administrative subsystem.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is rooted in a failure of the Dell PowerStore authorization middleware to properly validate user roles and permissions when specific administrative API endpoints or management functions are called. The application logic fails to perform an effective Access Control List (ACL) check to verify whether the authenticated user possesses the 'Administrator' role prior to executing high-privilege instructions.\nThe root cause suggests a flaw in the request validation layer of the management interface, where the backend service trusts the client's request to perform sensitive operations without re-validating the associated session's privileges against the requested method's required permission level.\nThe attack flow commences when a low-privileged user identifies an administrative API endpoint that is reachable due to insufficient authorization checks. The attacker crafts a valid, authenticated HTTP request directed at this endpoint. Despite the attacker lacking administrative roles, the backend service processes the request, assuming that the initial authentication header is sufficient for authorization as well.\nUpon receiving the request, the application backend executes the privileged operation. Because the application logic does not cross-reference the user's specific role against the required privilege level of the operation, the action is carried out with administrative context.\nPost-exploitation, the attacker can leverage these invoked operations to execute critical system commands, modify user account permissions, alter data protection policies, or perform other management-level tasks that are typically restricted. This effectively elevates the attacker's status from a restricted user to an unauthorized administrator, leading to a complete compromise of the management plane of the Dell PowerStore storage system.\nThe vulnerability exists within the management interface component of Dell PowerStore. It is restricted to the scope of authenticated sessions, meaning network exposure is limited to users who have already achieved successful authentication within the management network."
}