VulnerabilityPublished 10 Sep 2025

CVE-2025-43938: Dell PowerProtect Data Manager · Plaintext Storage of a Password

Affects Dell PowerProtect Data ManagerSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.0 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 12:29 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.0Medium

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 1% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
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 10 Sep 2025
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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager	Affected >=19.19 <=19.20	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Immediately audit and restrict local administrative access to systems running Dell PowerProtect Data Manager, ensuring only trusted personnel have high privileges.
Implement strict access controls and monitoring on Hyper-V hosts to detect and prevent unauthorized local access.
Rotate and change all credentials stored or used by PowerProtect Data Manager, especially if local access has been suspected or confirmed.
Employ endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to monitor for suspicious activities indicative of credential harvesting or privilege escalation.
Use encryption or secure vault solutions for password storage where possible, and advocate for Dell to release patches or updates that eliminate plaintext password storage.
Regularly review and apply security updates from Dell once available, and subscribe to vendor advisories for timely patching.
Conduct internal penetration testing and vulnerability assessments focusing on local privilege escalation vectors to identify and remediate similar risks.
Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for administrative accounts to reduce the impact of credential disclosure.

Description

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager, version(s) 19.19 and 19.20, Hyper-V contain(s) a Plaintext Storage of a Password vulnerability. A high privileged attacker with local access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to the disclosure of certain user credentials. The attacker may be able to use the exposed credentials to gain unauthorized access with privileges of the compromised account.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability could lead to unauthorized access to critical backup and data management systems if an attacker gains local high-privileged access. PowerProtect Data Manager is used for enterprise backup and recovery, so exposure of credentials could compromise backup integrity indirectly by allowing attackers to access or manipulate backup data, potentially leading to data breaches or loss of data availability through sabotage. Organizations in sectors with strict data protection regulations, such as finance, healthcare, and government, face increased risk of regulatory penalties if credential disclosure leads to data breaches. The requirement for local high privileges somewhat limits the attack surface but does not eliminate risk, especially in environments where insider threats or compromised administrative accounts are possible. Additionally, the use of Hyper-V environments is common in European enterprises, increasing the relevance of this vulnerability. The medium severity rating suggests that while immediate remote exploitation is unlikely, the vulnerability can be leveraged as part of a multi-stage attack chain to escalate privileges or move laterally within networks.

CWE-256Plaintext Storage of a Password (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A06:2025: Insecure Design (opens in a new tab)
The product stores a password in plaintext within resources such as memory or files.
Architecture and Design
Avoid storing passwords in easily accessible locations.
Architecture and Design
Consider storing cryptographic hashes of passwords as an alternative to storing in plaintext.
A programmer might attempt to remedy the password management problem by obscuring the password with an encoding function, such as base 64 encoding, but this effort does not adequately protect the password because the encoding can be detected and decoded easily.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Forgot Password (opens in a new tab)
Secure Design Principles (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V2.7.5 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.5 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.4 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000367456/dsa-2025-326-security-update-for-dell-powerprotect-data-manager-multiple-security-vulnerabilities (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 10 Sep 2025, 16:06 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-256

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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