VulnerabilityPublished 28 Jan 2026

CVE-2025-57796: Explorance Blue · Storing Passwords in a Recoverable Format

Affects Explorance BlueSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.8 Medium : upgrade to 8.14.12 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.8Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 10% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 8.14.12

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
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: 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: 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 28 Jan 2026
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

Upgrade Explorance Blue to 8.14.12.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
ExploranceBlue	Affected <8.14.12	Fixed in 8.14.12

AI-suggested

Upgrade Explorance Blue to version 8.14.12 or later, where the vulnerability is addressed by removing the use of reversible encryption with a hardcoded key.
Restrict access to encrypted data storage locations to only essential personnel and systems, employing strict access control lists and monitoring.
Implement robust internal monitoring and alerting for unusual access patterns or attempts to access encrypted data stores.
Conduct regular audits of user privileges to ensure that only necessary users have high-level access that could expose encrypted data.
If upgrading immediately is not feasible, consider isolating systems running vulnerable versions from untrusted networks and enforcing network segmentation.
Review and enhance overall credential management policies, including enforcing strong password policies and multi-factor authentication to reduce risk from compromised credentials.
Educate administrators and users about the risks of storing passwords in recoverable formats and the importance of timely patching.
Maintain backups of system configurations and encrypted data to enable recovery in case of compromise.

Description

Explorance Blue versions prior to 8.14.12 use reversible symmetric encryption with a hardcoded static key to protect sensitive data, including user passwords and system configurations. This approach allows stored values to be decrypted offline if the encrypted data are obtained.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant confidentiality risk. If attackers with high privileges gain access to the encrypted data stores, they can decrypt user passwords and system configurations offline, potentially leading to unauthorized access to user accounts and system components. This can facilitate privilege escalation, lateral movement, and data exfiltration within the organization. The impact is particularly critical for sectors relying on Explorance Blue for managing sensitive educational or research data, such as universities and research institutions. Compromise of system configurations could also allow attackers to alter system behavior or disable security controls. Although the vulnerability does not directly affect system integrity or availability, the confidentiality breach can have cascading effects on overall security posture. The medium CVSS score reflects the balance between the required privilege level and the high confidentiality impact. European organizations that have not upgraded to the fixed version remain at risk, especially if internal access controls are weak or if insider threats are present.

CWE-257Storing Passwords in a Recoverable Format (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A04:2021: Insecure Design (opens in a new tab)
The storage of passwords in a recoverable format makes them subject to password reuse attacks by malicious users. In fact, it should be noted that recoverable encrypted passwords provide no significant benefit over plaintext passwords since they are subject not only to reuse by malicious attackers but also by malicious insiders. If a system administrator can recover a password directly, or use a brute force search on the available information, the administrator can use the password on other accounts.
Architecture and Design
Use strong, non-reversible encryption to protect stored passwords.
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V2.8.5 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.4 (opens in a new tab)
V9.2.3 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Password Brute Forcing (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

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 28 Jan 2026, 18:21 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-257

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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