Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessReach On-Prem management interface over network
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ExploitExploit insufficient credential protection
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ImpactHarvest exposed credentials for reuse
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V6 - Authentication Credential protection in transit/storage
|
| Exploitation Conditions | The attacker needs network access to the Cisco License On-Prem (formerly Smart Software Manager On-Prem) appliance's management/service interface; per CVSS PR:N/UI:N the flaw is reachable without authentication or user interaction against the affected software. The concrete prerequisite - which specific feature, protocol, or stored-credential store is exposed - is NOT specified in the vendor description beyond the CWE-522 'insufficiently protected credentials' classification, so the exact enabling configuration cannot be named from available data. Limiting factors: exploitation requires reachability to the on-prem appliance (typically an internal/management-network host rather than internet-facing), and affected/fixed version boundaries are defined only in the Cisco advisory, so patched or network-segmented deployments are not exposed. |
| Impact | Cisco assigns this a CVSS 9.1 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N), indicating a network-reachable, low-complexity flaw requiring no privileges or user interaction, with high confidentiality and integrity impact but no availability impact - a profile consistent with remote unauthenticated exposure of protected credentials (CWE-522). On signal strength: the vector alone argues for high priority because unauthenticated network access to credential material can cascade into broader compromise. However, key exploitation signals are MISSING: no EPSS score was provided, the CVE is NOT listed in CISA KEV, and no public POC is referenced, so there is no evidence of active or probable exploitation at this time. The advisory framing is also notable - this CVE stems from a vendor-initiated internal security review and hardening release rather than external discovery or observed attacks, which typically correlates with lower immediate real-world exploitation. The description is deliberately vague ('issues with insufficiently protected credentials grouped under CWE-522'), so the exact attack vector and whether AV:N truly applies to every sub-issue cannot be independently confirmed from the available data - the CVSS:I:H rating in particular is hard to reconcile with a pure credential-disclosure weakness and should be verified against the Cisco advisory. Net: treat as a legitimate high-severity patch-soon item for organizations running the affected appliance, but current evidence points to no known exploitation rather than widespread active threat. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote, unauthenticated attacker with network reachability to the Cisco License On-Prem management interface leverages the insufficiently-protected-credentials weakness to retrieve stored or transmitted credential material (e.g., service account or integration credentials). Those harvested credentials are then reused to authenticate to the appliance or connected systems, expanding access. No public exploit code is identified at time of analysis, and the precise triggering mechanism is not disclosed in the vendor advisory. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 07, 2026
Remote, unauthenticated attackers can reach insufficiently protected credentials in Cisco License On-Prem (formerly Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem) and potentially read and modify them, based on Cisco's hardening advisory covering several internally discovered CWE-522 issues tracked under this single CVE. Cisco rates it CVSS 9.1 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N), indicating a network-reachable, low-complexity flaw requiring no privileges and no user interaction, with high confidentiality and integrity impact but no availability impact. The wildcard CPE cpe:2.3:a:cisco:cisco_license_on-prem:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* indicates all shipping versions are affected until the vendor's hardening release is applied; no public exploit code or confirmed active exploitation was identified at time of analysis (no CISA KEV listing and no PoC referenced), and practical exposure is constrained because these on-prem appliances normally sit on internal management networks rather than the public internet.
RemediationAI
Patch available per vendor advisory: apply the software hardening release described in Cisco Security Advisory cisco-sa-hardening-ssm-Ph77wdhf (https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-hardening-ssm-Ph77wdhf), which is the authoritative source for the exact fixed version applicable to your release train; no specific fix version number is available in the supplied data, so do not assume a version outside that advisory's Fixed Software table. If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict access to the appliance with firewall rules or ACLs so that only trusted administrative subnets can reach its management and service interfaces, and place the appliance on a segmented management VLAN - the trade-off is that overly tight filtering can break smart licensing call-home, satellite registration, or administrative client access, so validate connectivity after the change. Rotate any credentials the appliance stores, transmits, or uses, including administrative accounts, licensing/backend service accounts, and any AAA or LDAP bind credentials, and invalidate associated tokens or certificates; rotation may require re-registering clients or re-establishing satellite/trust relationships, so schedule a maintenance window. Disable unused remote-management and legacy services on the appliance to shrink the reachable surface, and monitor authentication logs and management-interface traffic for anomalous access while patching is pending. No public exploit code was identified at time of analysis, but the flaw is network-reachable and unauthenticated per the CVSS vector, so treat the appliance as high priority for out-of-band patching if it is reachable from less-trusted networks.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
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 root cause is classified under CWE-522, Insufficiently Protected Credentials, a CWE Pillar that aggregates weaknesses such as cleartext storage, cleartext transmission, hard-coded credentials, weak hashing/encryption of secrets, overly permissive file or registry ACLs, and insecure credential recovery mechanisms. Cisco does not disclose in the advisory text which concrete credential store, protocol, or interface is at fault, so the exact enabling mechanism cannot be named from available data; what is known is that the affected software is Cisco License On-Prem (formerly Smart Software Manager On-Prem), the on-premises appliance that handles smart licensing administration and license consumption for Cisco products, which by design holds or brokers sensitive credentials for satellite/backend communication and administrative access. The CVSS vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N points to an unauthenticated, remotely reachable attack path with no user interaction, and the C:H/I:H/A:N profile is consistent with an attacker obtaining protected secrets (confidentiality) and being able to alter or substitute them (integrity) without taking the service down. Because the advisory is a bundled hardening release addressing multiple internally discovered CWE-522-family issues, the tracked CVE should be treated as a grouping identifier rather than a single precisely documented code defect, and remediation should follow the version table in the Cisco advisory rather than assumptions about one specific endpoint.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Network-reachable unauthenticated credential-protection flaw (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N); high confidentiality from credential exposure and integrity retained per vendor, no availability impact, so A:N.
Primary rating from Vendor (cisco).
CVSS VectorVendor: cisco
DescriptionCVE.org
As part of Cisco's ongoing commitment to proactive security and product quality, the engineering team for Cisco License On-Prem, formerly Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem (SSM On-Prem), has conducted a comprehensive internal security review. This review resulted in software hardening releases that address multiple internally discovered vulnerabilities.
The vulnerabilities tracked by CVE-2026-76483 are related to issues with insufficiently protected credentials that are grouped under the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) Pillar CWE-522.
Executive ViewAI
A critical vulnerability in Cisco License On-Prem (formerly Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem) could allow an unauthenticated network attacker to read and modify insufficiently protected credentials, potentially undermining licensing integrity and trust in internal management systems. No vendor patch is currently available, and all shipping versions are affected until Cisco releases its hardening update, although no public exploit or confirmed active exploitation has been identified. Leadership should prioritize remediation because the flaw is network-reachable, requires no privileges or user interaction, and can expose or alter sensitive credentials on internal management networks.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis; restrict Cisco License On-Prem management interfaces to trusted internal networks, segment the appliance, enforce least-privilege administrative access, enable monitoring and alerting for anomalous credential access or modification, rotate potentially exposed credentials if compromise is suspected, and apply the vendor hardening update once released.
Threat Intelligence Overview
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.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
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