CVE-2021-32086
Quest KACE Systems Deployment Appliance Hardcoded Cryptographic Key Vulnerability
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.
INFO
Published Date :
July 27, 2026, 10:16 p.m.
Last Modified :
July 27, 2026, 10:16 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
No
Source :
[email protected]
Affected Products
The following products are affected by CVE-2021-32086
vulnerability.
Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the
products
that
are
affected, the information is not represented in the table below.
No affected product recoded yet
Solution
- Update Quest KACE SMA to a patched version.
- Change encryption keys after updating.
- Review and rotate any compromised credentials.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2021-32086.
| URL | Resource |
|---|---|
| https://support.quest.com/download-product-select | |
| https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/kb/4293505/quest-response-to-criticalstart-vulnerability-report |
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2021-32086 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2021-32086
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2021-32086 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2021-32086 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
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New CVE Received by [email protected]
Jul. 27, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Affected [{'vendor': 'n/a', 'product': 'n/a', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': 'n/a'}]}] 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. Added Reference https://support.quest.com/download-product-select Added Reference https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/kb/4293505/quest-response-to-criticalstart-vulnerability-report