What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities
CVE-2026-8169: ExtremeXOS Debug-Mode Privilege Escalation via Weak PRNG
- Severity: high (CVSS 8.7 v4.0)
- Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
- EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
- Public exploit or detection template: none known
- Published: 2026-07-20 · updated 2026-10-24
- Weakness: CWE-338
Description
ExtremeXOS (EXOS) uses a challenge-response mechanism to authorize access to the privileged debug-mode function. The challenge value is generated using an insufficiently random source, which under certain conditions may allow an attacker to predict the expected response and activate debug-mode without authorization. Depending on device configuration and version, this may enable escalation to root-level access and persistent modification of the device software stack. Exploitation requires either a valid low-privilege account on the device (remote scenario) or physical serial console access (local scenario). This vulnerability is distinct from CVE-2017-14329, which addressed a different issue involving Python script privileges. Extreme would like to thank Hadrien Barral (Université Gustave Eiffel) and Georges-Axel Jaloyan (French Ministry of the Interior) for responsible disclosure of their findings.
Affected products
- Extreme Networks Switch Engine (EXOS): before 31.7.4; from 32.0.0 before 32.7.4.15; from 33.0.0 before 33.1.100; from 33.2.0 before 33.7.1 — fixed in 31.7.4, 32.7.4.15, 33.1.100, 33.7.1
How to fix
Upgrade to a fixed version: Extreme Networks Switch Engine (EXOS) 31.7.4, 32.7.4.15, 33.1.100, 33.7.1. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.
References
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