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HPE Aruba AOS-S CVE-2026-76748

| EUVDEUVD-2026-93875 HIGH
Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269)
2026-10-06 security-alert@hpe.com GHSA-8cx3-28f8-cvcq
8.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: hpe
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Authenticate as read-only user
  2. Exploit
    Send crafted AOS-S API request
  3. Execution
    Escalate to administrative privileges
  4. Impact
    Gain full switch control

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Least privilege enforcement
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires an authenticated read-only user account on the AOS-S device and network reachability to the AOS-S management API; the attacker uses that API to escalate to administrative access. The key limiting factor is the prerequisite of valid low-privilege credentials (PR:L) - exploitation is not possible by a fully unauthenticated attacker - making this most relevant where read-only accounts exist, are shared, or can be compromised. No special non-default configuration is called out in the description beyond the API being reachable by the authenticated user.

Impact

This is a credible, actionable priority rather than an inflated high-CVSS score. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N) describes a low-complexity, network-reachable attack via the AOS-S API that requires only a low-privileged (read-only) authenticated account, and the full C:H/I:H/A:H impact reflects a complete read-only-to-administrator takeover - a serious trust-boundary break. The limiting factor is PR:L: an attacker must already possess valid read-only credentials, so this is primarily an insider/lateral-movement or stolen-credential risk rather than a purely external unauthenticated threat. No EPSS score, CISA KEV listing, or public POC was provided in the input, so there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis and no evidence of active or widespread exploitation; the signals are consistent (network vector, low privilege, high impact) with no conflicts, but the exploitation-likelihood dimension is simply absent from the data and cannot be inferred.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker who holds or has stolen a low-privilege read-only account (or a malicious internal operator) reaches the AOS-S management API over the network and issues a crafted request that abuses a missing authorization check to perform privileged operations. This elevates the session to administrative access, giving full control over the switch configuration. No public exploit code was identified at time of analysis, and the attack requires valid read-only credentials as a prerequisite.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
No patch listed yet 0.3% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Oct 06, 2026

Authenticated privilege escalation in the HPE Aruba Networking AOS-S management API allows a read-only account to escalate to full administrative access, giving the attacker complete control over confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected switch (CVSS 3.1 8.8, AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H). Exploitation is network-reachable and low-complexity, requiring no user interaction and no non-default configuration beyond the API being reachable, but it is gated by the prerequisite of a valid low-privilege credential (PR:L), so risk concentrates in environments where read-only accounts exist, are shared, or can be compromised; the vendor reports this as a privilege-escalation issue in the AOS-S API. No public exploit code and no confirmed active exploitation (CISA KEV) were identified at time of analysis, yet the combination of a low-bar prerequisite and a total privilege gain makes this a credible, actionable priority rather than an inflated high-CVSS score.

RemediationAI

No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis, and the supplied data contains no fix version, so the first action is to open HPE Security Bulletin hpesbnw05156en_us (https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=hpesbnw05156en_us&docLocale=en_US), determine whether an updated AOS-S firmware release resolves the API privilege check, and schedule that upgrade during a maintenance window since switch firmware changes trigger a reboot and brief outage. Until fixed firmware is applied, prioritize compensating controls that directly target the PR:L prerequisite: restrict the AOS-S management API to a dedicated management VLAN and to specific trusted source addresses with ACLs or firewall rules, accepting the trade-off that remote monitoring and automation from other segments will break unless those collectors are explicitly allowed; audit and prune read-only accounts, disable any that are unused, generic, or shared, and rotate their credentials and SNMP/API tokens, understanding that removing shared read-only accounts can reduce monitoring coverage and may require re-issuing per-system credentials; and enable logging/alerting on authentication and privilege-change events in the API so that a read-only account performing administrative actions is detected quickly, though this is detective rather than preventive. If read-only access cannot be tightly scoped or audited, consider removing it entirely until a fixed release is available.

Affected VersionsENISA

AOS-Switch (AOS-S) 16.11.0000 ≤16.11.0031

Affected Packages

euvd aos_switch_aos_s no fix

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The issue lives in the management API of AOS-S, the ArubaOS-Switch operating system used across HPE Aruba Networking access and aggregation switches. An account provisioned with read-only rights is intended to view state through that API, but the privilege checks governing administrative operations are insufficient, so the same authenticated session can be used to reach administrative functionality - behavior in the class of improper privilege management / missing authorization enforcement (the input data carries no CWE assignment, so the root-cause class is inferred from the described behavior rather than confirmed). The authoritative CVSS 3.1 vector confirms the mechanics: AV:N means the API is reachable over the network, AC:L means no race conditions or special timing are needed, PR:L confirms a low-privileged authenticated account is required and that a fully unauthenticated attacker cannot exploit it, UI:N means no victim interaction is needed, and S:U with C:H/I:H/A:H reflects that the escalation stays within the same security authority while granting complete compromise of the device. Practically, this is a broken authorization/role-enforcement defect on a network infrastructure control plane, which matters because administrative control of a switch yields configuration changes, credential material, traffic redirection potential, and a foothold for lateral movement toward other switches or the surrounding network.

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Severity by source

Vendor (hpe) PRIMARY 8.8 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI 8.8 HIGH

API is network-reachable (AV:N) with no described exploitation hurdles (AC:L); a read-only authenticated account is required (PR:L), and escalation to admin yields full C/I/A impact.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (hpe).

CVSS VectorVendor: hpe

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

DescriptionCVE.org

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the API of AOS-S. Successful exploitation could allow an authenticated read-only user to escalate their privileges and gain administrative access to the affected system.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

A privilege-escalation flaw in the HPE Aruba Networking AOS-S management API lets anyone holding a valid read-only credential obtain full administrative control of the affected switch, putting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the network segment it serves at risk. Because the flaw is network-reachable, low-complexity, and requires no user interaction, any environment with shared, stale, or service read-only accounts on AOS-S infrastructure carries elevated exposure until the vendor issues remediation. Leadership should treat this as a near-term network-infrastructure risk rather than a theoretical high score, since a single compromised low-privilege login can translate into complete control of the device and the traffic it handles.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations: restrict management API reachability to a dedicated management VLAN or trusted jump hosts via ACLs and firewall rules; rotate, disable, or eliminate shared and service read-only accounts and enforce unique least-privilege credentials; enable centralized logging and alerting on API authentication, privilege changes, and configuration writes; segment switch management traffic and review read-only role assignments so privileges are granted only where operationally required.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.3%
Top 78% exploitable
Prevalence
High
HPE Aruba AOS-S switches are widely deployed enterprise networking infrastructure
Data Quality
5 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.3%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
No
Human Impact
High
Technical Impact
Total

Priority Score

44
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +44
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.

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