CVE-2025-43994VulnerabilityPublished 24 Oct 2025

CVE-2025-43994: Dell Storage Manager · Missing Authentication

Affects Dell Storage ManagerSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.6 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.6High

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

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 48% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 24 Oct 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 2026-10-26.

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 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 Dell Storage Manager	Affected =20.1.21	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Organizations should prioritize the following mitigation steps: 1) Monitor Dell’s official security advisories closely and apply patches or updates immediately upon release. 2) Restrict network access to Dell Storage Manager interfaces using network segmentation, firewalls, and VPNs to limit exposure to trusted administrators only. 3) Implement strong access control policies and multi-factor authentication on management systems where possible, even if the product lacks built-in authentication for certain functions. 4) Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability scans focusing on storage management infrastructure. 5) Deploy intrusion detection and prevention systems to monitor for anomalous access attempts or suspicious activity targeting storage management ports. 6) Educate IT staff about this vulnerability and ensure incident response plans include scenarios involving storage management compromise. 7) Consider temporary compensating controls such as disabling or isolating vulnerable management functions if feasible until patches are available.

Description

Dell Storage Center - Dell Storage Manager, version(s) DSM 20.1.21, contain(s) a Missing Authentication for Critical Function vulnerability. An unauthenticated attacker with remote access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to Information disclosure.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-43994 can be significant. Dell Storage Manager is commonly deployed in data centers and enterprise storage environments across Europe, supporting critical business applications and data repositories. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information managed by the storage system, including configuration details, stored data metadata, or operational parameters. Additionally, the high availability impact suggests potential disruption or denial of storage management services, which could cascade into broader IT service outages. This is especially critical for sectors such as finance, healthcare, telecommunications, and government, where data confidentiality and system uptime are paramount. The lack of authentication requirement lowers the barrier for attackers, increasing the risk of targeted attacks or opportunistic exploitation. Given the strategic importance of storage infrastructure in European enterprises, this vulnerability could facilitate lateral movement, data exfiltration, or sabotage within affected networks.

CWE-306Missing Authentication for Critical Function (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #21OWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources.
Architecture and Design
Divide the software into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Identify which of these areas require a proven user identity, and use a centralized authentication capability.
Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks…
Architecture and Design
Where possible, avoid implementing custom, "grow-your-own" authentication routines and consider using authentication capabilities as provided by the surrounding framework, operating system, or environment.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.2.3 (opens in a new tab)
V1.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
V1.2.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Choosing Message Identifier (opens in a new tab)
Force the System to Reset Values (opens in a new tab)
Using Unpublished Interfaces or Functionality (opens in a new tab)
Cross Site Request Forgery (opens in a new tab)
Communication Channel Manipulation (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000382899/dsa-2025-393-security-update-for-storage-center-dell-storage-manager-vulnerabilities (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 24 Oct 2025, 14:57 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-306

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats