VulnerabilityPublished 11 Oct 2024Updated 6 Nov 2024

CVE-2024-42018: Atos Eviden SMC xScale · Insecure Storage of Sensitive Information

Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.7 High · fixed in 1.6.6 : patch Atos Eviden SMC xScale soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.7High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 29% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Affects: Atos Eviden SMC xScale before 1.6.6
Patch: Available – fixed in 1.6.6

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 11 Oct 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2024-42018, administrators should update the cloudinit configuration on diskful nodes to move iptables firewall rule commands from the runcmd section to the bootcmd section. This ensures that firewall rules are applied early in the boot process and persist after reboots. Additionally, verify that access control policies on management nodes are enforced consistently and test reboot scenarios to confirm firewall persistence. Implement monitoring to detect unauthorized access attempts to management nodes, especially after node reboots. Restrict physical and network access to diskful nodes to prevent unauthorized reboots or tampering. Consider upgrading Atos Eviden SMC xScale to version 1.6.6 or later once available, as it likely contains the fix. Regularly audit HPC cluster configurations and credentials to detect anomalies. Finally, educate administrators on the importance of correct cloudinit configuration and the risks of improper firewall rule persistence.

Description

An issue was discovered in Atos Eviden SMC xScale before 1.6.6. During initialization of nodes, some configuration parameters are retrieved from management nodes. These parameters embed credentials whose integrity and confidentiality may be important to the security of the HPC configuration. Because these parameters are needed for initialization, there is no available mechanism to ensure access control on the management node, and a mitigation measure is normally put in place to prevent access to unprivileged users. It was discovered that this mitigation measure does not survive a reboot of diskful nodes. (Diskless nodes are not at risk.) The mistake lies in the cloudinit configuration: the iptables configuration should have been in the bootcmd instead of the runcmd section.

Impact

The vulnerability exposes sensitive HPC cluster credentials stored in configuration parameters on management nodes to unauthorized users after a reboot of diskful nodes. This can lead to unauthorized access to critical management functions or data, potentially allowing attackers to gather intelligence on the HPC environment or prepare further attacks. Although integrity and availability are not directly impacted, the confidentiality breach can undermine the overall security of the HPC infrastructure. Organizations relying on Atos Eviden SMC xScale for high-performance computing may face increased risk of insider threats or lateral movement by attackers with limited privileges. The loss of firewall protections after reboot increases the attack surface and may facilitate privilege escalation or unauthorized configuration changes. Given the specialized nature of HPC environments, the impact is significant for research institutions, government agencies, and enterprises using these systems for sensitive computations.

Summary

CVE-2024-42018 is a vulnerability in Atos Eviden SMC xScale HPC management software prior to version 1.6.6. During the initialization of compute nodes, configuration parameters containing sensitive credentials are fetched from management nodes. These credentials are critical to maintaining the security posture of the HPC environment. To protect these credentials, access control is enforced on the management nodes, typically via iptables firewall rules configured through cloudinit. However, the iptables rules are applied in the runcmd section of cloudinit, which executes late in the boot process and does not persist after a reboot on diskful nodes. As a result, after a reboot, the firewall rules are lost, exposing the management node to unauthorized access by unprivileged users. Diskless nodes are not impacted because their initialization process differs. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-922 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer) due to the failure to maintain proper access control boundaries. The CVSS v3.1 score is 7.7 (high), reflecting network attack vector, low attack complexity, required privileges (limited), no user interaction, and a scope change with high confidentiality impact but no integrity or availability impact. No public exploits have been reported yet. The primary fix involves moving the iptables configuration commands from the runcmd section to the bootcmd section in cloudinit, ensuring firewall rules are applied early and persist across reboots, thereby maintaining access control on management nodes.

CWE-922Insecure Storage of Sensitive Information (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessOWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product stores sensitive information without properly limiting read or write access by unauthorized actors.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.1.6 (opens in a new tab)
V8.2.3 (opens in a new tab)
V8.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 26 Feb 2026, 07:16 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-922

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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