CVE-2026-76749 in AOS-Switch
Summary
by MITRE • 10/06/2026
A sensitive information disclosure vulnerability exists in AOS-S. Successful exploitation could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to access sensitive information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/06/2026
The identified vulnerability represents a critical failure in the security controls governing the Aruba Operating System Software, commonly referred to as AOS-S. This flaw is classified under the category of improper restriction of excessive authentication attempts or lack of input validation that leads to unauthorized data exposure. Specifically, it falls within the domain of sensitive information disclosure, where an application fails to properly restrict access to internal system details, configuration files, or operational logs for users who have not yet established a valid session. The root cause typically stems from misconfigured web server directives, exposed administrative interfaces without mandatory pre-authentication checks, or API endpoints that return verbose error messages containing stack traces, database schemas, or network topology maps when accessed by unauthenticated entities. This type of vulnerability is frequently cataloged under CWE-200, which defines the exposure of information to an unauthorized actor, and often correlates with CWE-359 regarding exposure of private information without explicit consent.
From a technical perspective, the exploitation mechanism relies on the attacker sending specifically crafted HTTP requests or network packets to targeted endpoints within the AOS-S management plane. Because the vulnerability allows access by unauthenticated remote attackers, there is no requirement for valid credentials such as usernames or passwords prior to data retrieval. The attacker may utilize automated scanning tools to probe common administrative paths, debug interfaces, or legacy API versions that were not properly secured during deployment or configuration updates. Upon receiving a request to these vulnerable endpoints, the system responds with detailed internal information rather than an appropriate access denied error page. This behavior indicates a breakdown in the principle of least privilege and secure by design methodologies, where default configurations often leave diagnostic features enabled for troubleshooting purposes but fail to disable them before production deployment or after initial setup.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it serves as a potent reconnaissance tool for threat actors seeking to compromise network infrastructure. By accessing sensitive information such as internal IP addresses, device hostnames, firmware versions, and potentially cryptographic keys or session tokens stored in plaintext logs, an attacker can map the entire network topology with high precision. This intelligence gathering phase drastically reduces the effort required for subsequent attacks, including privilege escalation, lateral movement, or targeted denial-of-service operations against specific components identified as vulnerable based on their software version disclosed in the leak. Furthermore, if configuration data containing default credentials or weak passwords is exposed, it can lead directly to full system compromise without further exploitation steps. In the context of network security frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK, this activity aligns with techniques such as T1087 Account Discovery and T1526 Service Scan, where adversaries enumerate services and accounts to build a profile of the target environment for future intrusion campaigns.
To mitigate this risk, immediate remediation actions must focus on hardening the management interface of the AOS-S devices. Administrators should ensure that all diagnostic pages, debug interfaces, and unnecessary API endpoints are disabled or restricted to authenticated sessions only. It is critical to review web server configurations to prevent directory listing and verbose error reporting in production environments. Additionally, implementing strict access control lists on network segments allows management traffic to be isolated from general user networks, reducing the attack surface available to remote attackers. Regular security audits should include automated vulnerability scanning specifically targeting administrative interfaces to detect any regression in these controls. Upgrading to the latest patched version of AOS-S provided by Aruba is essential, as vendors typically release updates that address such information disclosure flaws by enforcing authentication checks on previously unprotected endpoints and sanitizing response payloads to remove sensitive internal details.