VulnerabilityPublished 4 Mar 2026

CVE-2026-22285: Dell Device Management Agent (DDMA) · Plaintext Storage of a Password

Affects Dell Device Management Agent (DDMA)Source CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.4 Medium : upgrade to 26.02 when convenient.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.4Medium

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.
Patch: Available – fixed in 26.02

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

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
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: 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: 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: 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 4 Mar 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: 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 30 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.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), 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 Dell Device Management Agent (DDMA) to 26.02.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
DellDevice Management Agent (DDMA)	Affected ≥ N/A, < 26.02	Fixed in 26.02

AI-suggested

1. 2. If you cannot patch yet, restrict local access to systems running DDMA to trusted administrators only, minimizing the risk of local privilege abuse. 3. Implement strict access controls and monitoring on endpoints with DDMA to detect unauthorized access attempts or suspicious activities. 4. Use endpoint encryption and secure credential storage mechanisms where possible to reduce exposure of sensitive data. 5. Conduct regular audits of local accounts and privileges to ensure no unnecessary high privilege access is granted. 6. Educate system administrators about the risks of plaintext password storage and encourage use of multi-factor authentication to reduce reliance on stored credentials. 7. Employ host-based intrusion detection systems (HIDS) to alert on unauthorized file access or credential dumping attempts. 8. Review and harden DDMA configuration settings to limit credential exposure and logging of sensitive information. 9. Maintain an incident response plan that includes procedures for credential compromise scenarios. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on interim controls and monitoring until vendor patches are available.

Description

Dell Device Management Agent (DDMA), versions prior to 26.02, contain a Plaintext Storage of Password vulnerability. A high privileged attacker with local access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to Unauthorized Access.

Impact

The primary impact of this vulnerability is the compromise of confidentiality through exposure of plaintext passwords stored by DDMA. An attacker with high privileged local access can extract these passwords, potentially enabling unauthorized access to other systems or services managed by DDMA, facilitating lateral movement or privilege escalation within an organization. Although the vulnerability does not directly affect system integrity or availability, the unauthorized access enabled by stolen credentials can lead to further compromise, data breaches, or disruption. Organizations with large deployments of Dell devices using DDMA, especially in enterprise or managed service environments, face increased risk. The requirement for local privileged access limits remote exploitation, but insider threats or attackers who have already breached perimeter defenses could leverage this vulnerability to deepen their foothold. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, underscoring the need for proactive remediation.

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/000429177/dsa-2026-105 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Mar 2026, 16:32 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-256

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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