Administrative credential recovery via world-readable MD5-crypt hash
Published Sep 11, 2026 · Updated Sep 11, 2026
Weak password storage in CISA Malcolm before 26.06.0 allows local users to recover the administrative password from config/auth.env. The auth_setup flow writes an MD5-crypt SFTP hash of the shared administrative password to config/auth.env with mode 0644 instead of restricting the file to its owner. Any local user or process that can read the configuration directory can crack the hash offline and use the recovered password for both the web interface and SFTP.
Summary
What happened
Weak password storage in CISA Malcolm before 26.06.0 allows local users to recover the administrative password from config/auth.env. The auth_setup flow writes an MD5-crypt SFTP hash of the shared administrative password to config/auth.env with mode 0644 instead of restricting the file to its owner. Any local user or process that can read the configuration directory can crack the hash offline and use the recovered password for both the web interface and SFTP.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-90457
- Published
- Sep 11, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 11, 2026
- Vendor
- Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
- Product
- Malcolm
- Classifications
- T1110.002, T1552.001
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 11, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <v26.06.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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