Description
An issue was discovered in Quest KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SMA) 11.0.273. It uses a hardcoded symmetric encryption key to encrypt secrets in the MySQL databases. (This key is not unique for each installation.) An attacker that gains access to the MySQL server or a backup files can decrypt the secrets. Often, the decrypted secrets can be used to escalate privileges within KACE, or gain privileged access to unrelated systems or services.
Published: 2026-07-27
Score: 9.8 Critical
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

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Remediation

No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.

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Tracking

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Advisories

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History

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Title Hard‑coded Key in Quest KACE SMA Enables Secret Decryption and Privilege Escalation
Weaknesses CWE-321
CWE-330
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 9.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Tue, 28 Jul 2026 02:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Quest
Quest kace Systems Deployment Appliance
Vendors & Products Quest
Quest kace Systems Deployment Appliance

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 23:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description An issue was discovered in Quest KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SMA) 11.0.273. It uses a hardcoded symmetric encryption key to encrypt secrets in the MySQL databases. (This key is not unique for each installation.) An attacker that gains access to the MySQL server or a backup files can decrypt the secrets. Often, the decrypted secrets can be used to escalate privileges within KACE, or gain privileged access to unrelated systems or services.
References

Subscriptions

Quest Kace Systems Deployment Appliance
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: mitre

Published:

Updated: 2026-07-28T14:54:54.862Z

Reserved: 2021-05-06T00:00:00.000Z

Link: CVE-2021-32086

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-07-28T14:34:51.627Z

cve-icon NVD

No data.

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-07-28T15:30:04Z

Weaknesses