KACE Systems Management Appliance: Incorrect Authorization
CVE-2025-26850 is a critical-severity incorrect authorization vulnerability in KACE Systems Management Appliance from Quest, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.3 out of 10. It can be exploited with local access to the system by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. The record lists versions 14.0.97, 14.1.19 as the first without the flaw, so updating KACE Systems Management Appliance to one of those releases or later removes the exposure. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.18% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.
Critical severity: a successful attack would have severe impact.
What to do
- Update KACE Systems Management Appliance to 14.0.97 or 14.1.19, whichever matches your release line, or a later version.
Affected products and versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quest | KACE Systems Management Appliance | before 14.0.97; 14.1.0 up to, but not including, 14.1.19 | 14.0.97, 14.1.19 |
Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.
How the severity score breaks down
- Attack vector
- LocalThe attacker needs local access or must trick a user into running something.
- Attack complexity
- LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
- Privileges required
- NoneNo account or login is needed.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Scope
- ChangedThe attack can reach beyond the vulnerable component into other systems.
- Confidentiality
- HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
- Integrity
- HighData or code can be modified at will.
- Availability
- HighThe component can be taken down completely.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by CNA (mitre.org).
Official description
The agent in Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) before 14.0.97 and 14.1.x before 14.1.19 potentially allows privilege escalation on managed systems.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Incorrect Authorization
The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries. Note that this approach may not protect against horizontal authorization, i.e., it will not protect a user from attacking others with the same role.
- Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records. For example, a database may restrict access for medical records to a specific database user, but each record might only be intended to be accessible to the patient and the patient's doctor.
- Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid. For example, consider using authorization frameworks such as the JAAS Authorization Framework and the OWASP ESAPI Access Control feature.
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: no, technical impact: total).
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Other references
Other vulnerabilities in KACE Systems Management Appliance
- 10.0 Critical severity
- 7.8 High severity
- 7.8 High severity
- 9.8 Critical severity
- 9.8 Critical severity
Recent Incorrect Authorization vulnerabilities
- 8.8 High severity
- 9.3 Critical severity
- 8.8 High severity
- 8.1 High severity
- 8.1 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
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