CVE-2026-44273: Dell Wyse Management Suite Default Credentials Vulnerability

Technical summary

CVE-2026-44273 is classified as a Use of Default Credentials vulnerability (CWE-1392) affecting Dell Wyse Management Suite. The vulnerability exists in versions prior to WMS 2605. An attacker with high privilege context and local access can leverage default or hardcoded credentials to gain unauthorized information disclosure. The CVSS 3.1 score of 6.0 (MEDIUM severity) reflects the local-only attack vector (AV:L), low attack complexity (AC:L), and requirement for high privileges (PR:H), with impact limited to confidentiality and integrity but no availability impact.

Business impact

Organizations operating Dell Wyse Management Suite in environments where administrators or privileged users may be compromised face a data confidentiality risk. An insider threat or a user with legitimate high-privilege access but malicious intent could extract sensitive operational data from the management suite, potentially including credentials, configuration details, or system metadata. The impact is contained to information disclosure—no system disruption or denial of service is possible through this vector—but the information at risk may enable secondary attacks or regulatory compliance violations depending on what data is stored.

Affected systems

Dell Wyse Management Suite versions prior to 2605 are vulnerable. Organizations should verify their current WMS deployment version immediately. Patching to WMS 2605 or later eliminates this vulnerability. Systems running older versions remain at risk and should be prioritized for upgrade, especially those in security-sensitive environments or handling sensitive operational data.

Exploitability

Exploitability is limited by two factors: the attacker must already possess local system access and hold high privilege (administrative or equivalent) on the affected host. This is not remotely exploitable and does not grant initial access—it is a privilege escalation or lateral movement concern for already-compromised or insider-threat scenarios. The low attack complexity means that once those preconditions are met, exploitation is straightforward. The vulnerability is not currently tracked on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, but organizations should not assume lack of public exploitation implies low risk in their specific threat environment.

Remediation

Upgrade Dell Wyse Management Suite to version 2605 or later. This is a definitive, single-step remediation. Organizations should verify the target version against the Dell security advisory and test the upgrade in a non-production environment first. If immediate patching is not feasible, apply access controls to restrict local login privileges on systems running vulnerable versions, and monitor for suspicious credential usage patterns within the management suite.

Patch guidance

Obtain and deploy WMS 2605 or the latest available release from Dell through their official update channels. Before deploying in production, validate the upgrade path for your current version and confirm compatibility with dependent systems and integrations. Apply the patch according to your change management process, including appropriate testing and rollback procedures. Document the patching activity for compliance auditing.

Detection guidance

Monitor for suspicious authentication or credential usage within the Wyse Management Suite, particularly anomalous access from high-privilege accounts accessing the system outside normal business patterns. Review audit logs for default credential usage if available. Assess your current version through configuration management tools or the Dell WMS administrative interface. Look for API calls or console access from unexpected sources or at unusual times. Implement application-level logging and alerting if not already in place, and correlate with host-level access logs.

Why prioritize this

Although the CVSS score is MEDIUM, the vulnerability should be prioritized for organizations where WMS is mission-critical or stores sensitive configuration data. The requirement for high privileges narrows the attack surface, but the confidentiality impact of successful exploitation could be severe depending on what operational secrets are exposed. Prioritize upgrades in environments with high-security requirements, regulatory obligations, or elevated insider-threat risk. Less critical deployments can follow standard patch schedules but should not be deferred indefinitely.

Risk score, explained

The CVSS 3.1 score of 6.0 reflects that while the vulnerability has a local-only attack vector and requires high-level privileges (reducing accessibility), the impact on confidentiality and integrity is complete within the scope of the vulnerable service. The score appropriately penalizes the lack of availability impact and the privilege requirement, but does not reduce the importance of remediation in sensitive environments. Organizations should layer this score with their own risk context: data sensitivity, user privilege policies, and threat landscape.

Frequently asked questions