Executive brief
A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's Dell system management driver could allow sensitive information to be exposed. The software incorrectly recorded administrative passwords in plain text within system logs during password update operations. This could allow a local user with access to system logs to discover hardware management credentials, potentially leading to unauthorized configuration changes.
Technical details
An information disclosure vulnerability exists in the dell-wmi-sysman driver within the Linux kernel. The function 'set_new_password()' in 'passwordattr-interface.c' utilized 'print_hex_dump_bytes()' to log the contents of the password buffer, which contains both current and new passwords in plaintext. A local attacker with sufficient privileges to read kernel debug or system logs could retrieve these credentials. The issue has been resolved by removing the hex dump call from the driver code. Patches are available in various stable kernel branches.
Affected products
- Linux Linux Kernel
- Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP V3.1.5, V3.1.6
Timeline
- 2026-03-03: other: Patch submitted by developer
- 2026-03-25: advisory: NVD publication date
- 2026-03-13: patched: Initial stable tree commit
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0e6115c2f2facaed9593c16ad2e5accd487f5c52
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/411ba3cd837f7825c0e648e155bc505641f95854
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5de34126fb2edf8ab7f25d677b132e92d8bf9ede
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9bbb420f202834363e1e25435e49db0a385c2232
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d1a196e0a6dcddd03748468a0e9e3100790fc85c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d78e74adc5cfff7afd9d03b9da8058a7e435f9bc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d9e785bd62d2ac23cf29a75dcfea8c8087fd3870