CVE-2026-95761 in Fabric Composer
Summary
by MITRE • 11/03/2026
An improper certificate validation vulnerability exists in HPE Networking Fabric Composer. Successful exploitation could allow an authenticated attacker with low privileges to obtain sensitive information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/03/2026
The identified vulnerability resides within the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) implementation of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Networking Fabric Composer, specifically concerning the handling and verification of Transport Layer Security certificates during client-server communication. This flaw represents a classic instance of improper certificate validation, where the application fails to rigorously enforce standard cryptographic protocols required for secure identity authentication. In a properly secured environment, any TLS connection must validate that the server's digital certificate is signed by a trusted Certificate Authority, has not expired, and matches the hostname it was issued for. The deficiency in Fabric Composer allows an attacker who possesses valid but low-privileged credentials to bypass these critical checks. By manipulating the network traffic or exploiting the lack of strict validation logic, the malicious actor can intercept communications that are ostensibly encrypted, thereby undermining the confidentiality guarantees provided by TLS encryption.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability aligns with Common Weakness Enumeration identifier CWE-295, which covers Improper Certificate Validation. The root cause typically involves the application accepting self-signed certificates or ignoring hostname mismatches to facilitate easier deployment in certain network environments, but failing to restrict this behavior exclusively to trusted contexts. When an authenticated attacker leverages this flaw, they can perform a man-in-the-middle attack against their own session or potentially other sessions if the validation logic is shared across user contexts. This allows for the interception of sensitive data transmitted between the client and the Fabric Composer server, including configuration details, network topology maps, and authentication tokens. The ability to obtain such information with low-privileged access significantly lowers the barrier for exploitation, as it does not require initial administrative control or complex privilege escalation techniques.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is substantial, particularly in enterprise data center environments where Fabric Composer serves as a central management plane for network infrastructure. If an attacker successfully exploits this flaw, they can exfiltrate sensitive configuration files that reveal the architecture of the underlying physical and virtual networks. This information is highly valuable for further reconnaissance, allowing the attacker to map out critical assets, identify security boundaries, and plan more targeted attacks against other systems within the data center. Furthermore, access to session tokens or authentication credentials obtained through this interception could lead to unauthorized administrative actions if those sessions are reused or if the extracted data includes sensitive keys used for internal service-to-service communication. The compromise of integrity in these communications also means that an attacker could potentially inject malicious commands into management traffic, although the primary risk highlighted is information disclosure.
In terms of threat modeling and industry frameworks, this vulnerability maps to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1557, which covers Adversary-in-the-Middle attacks. The exploitation vector relies on the victim establishing a connection that appears legitimate due to the lack of strict certificate validation, allowing the attacker to sit between the client and server without detection by standard security monitoring tools that rely on TLS handshake success as an indicator of secure communication. This misconfiguration effectively nullifies one of the primary defenses against eavesdropping in web-based management interfaces. The severity is compounded by the fact that it requires only low-privileged access, meaning any user account with basic read-only or limited administrative rights can potentially leverage this flaw to escalate their intelligence-gathering capabilities significantly beyond what was originally intended for their role.
To mitigate this risk, immediate action should be taken to update HPE Networking Fabric Composer to a version where the certificate validation logic has been corrected to strictly enforce standard TLS practices. Administrators must ensure that all client connections require valid certificates signed by an internal or public trusted Certificate Authority and verify that the hostname in the certificate matches the server's identity exactly. Self-signed certificates should be disabled for production environments unless explicitly whitelisted with strict controls, which is generally discouraged due to the security risks involved. Additionally, network segmentation strategies should be reviewed to ensure that management interfaces are not exposed to untrusted networks or users who do not strictly require access. Regular audits of TLS configurations and the implementation of automated certificate monitoring tools can help detect any future deviations from secure standards before they can be exploited by malicious actors seeking sensitive information within the infrastructure.