Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2024-38291 is a high-severity Improper Access Control (CWE-284) vulnerability in Extremenetworks Xiq-Se. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 28th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-4 (Information Flow Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2024-38291 is a vulnerability in XIQ-SE versions prior to 24.2.11 that allows a low-privileged user to access admin passwords, potentially enabling privilege escalation. The issue stems from improper access control (CWE-284) and insufficiently protected credentials (CWE-522), earning a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
A low-privileged user with network access can exploit the vulnerability with low attack complexity and without requiring user interaction. Exploitation provides high-impact access to admin passwords, allowing the attacker to escalate privileges and potentially compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the system.
Extreme Networks security advisory SA-2024-105 details the unauthorized access to user credentials in XIQ-SE and provides guidance on the issue, available at https://community.extremenetworks.com/t5/security-advisories-formerly/sa-2024-105-xiq-se-unauthorized-access-to-user-credentials-cve/ba-p/116363. Mitigation requires updating to XIQ-SE version 24.2.11 or later.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-53959
Vulnerability Data
In XIQ-SE before 24.2.11, a low-privileged user may be able to access admin passwords, which could lead to privilege escalation.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 9 hardening rules · 5 OS baselines
V10.3.5V11.3.3
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly enforces approved authorizations for logical access, stopping unauthorized actors from reaching resources.
Protection of information at rest requires encryption or equivalent safeguards for stored credentials.
Transmission confidentiality and integrity enforcement stops credentials from being sent in plaintext or without protection.
Enforces flow-control policies that restrict information movement between subjects and objects.
Documents duties and assigns access so that no single account can bypass intended restrictions.
Limits each account to the minimum privileges needed, reducing the chance of unauthorized access.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Encrypting data-at-rest fully prevents insecure credential storage while only partially satisfying the broader data-protection outcome.
Encrypting data-in-transit fully prevents interception of credentials in motion while only partially satisfying the broader data-protection outcome.
Credential management practices directly reduce insecure storage/transmission but do not guarantee encryption or transport protection.
Protecting identity assertions covers conveyance of credentials but is narrower than full credential lifecycle protection.
PR.AA-05 directly enforces policy-based access management and least privilege, eliminating most improper-access-control defects, yet CWE-284 also covers implementation flaws and design gaps outside a single management control.
Hardened baselines and deviation monitoring directly eliminate most configuration-induced access-control defects, yet CWE-284 also encompasses code-level and design flaws outside the scope of configuration management alone.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Defining and enforcing explicit access rights and restrictions for each entity directly stops the assignment of permissions that exceed what is required, eliminating the root condition that allows improper access control.
Formal authorization, role-based provisioning, and timely revocation of access rights directly stop the creation of accounts or permissions that exceed what the business actually needs.
By enforcing explicit rules on which identities or groups may perform read, write, delete or execute operations and by denying anonymous access to sensitive data, the control directly stops the creation of overly permissive or missing access-control checks.
Requiring one-to-one mapping of identities to entities and timely removal of unused identities directly stops attackers from leveraging stale or shared accounts to bypass access restrictions.
Requiring protected storage, transmission, and non-display of passwords prevents credentials from being stored or sent in clear text where they can be harvested by unauthorized actors.
By explicitly transferring security roles and responsibilities when personnel change jobs or leave, the control reduces the chance that former employees retain access rights they no longer need, thereby limiting improper access control.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
- V-248597 There must be no "shosts.equiv" files on the OL 8 operating system. prevents CWE-284
- V-248598 There must be no ".shosts" files on the OL 8 operating system. prevents CWE-284
Oracle Linux 9 (2 rules)
- V-271758 OL 9 file systems must not contain .shosts files. prevents CWE-284
- V-271757 OL 9 file systems must not contain shosts.equiv files. prevents CWE-284
RHEL 7 (2 rules)
- V-204606 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not contain .shosts files. prevents CWE-284
- V-204607 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not contain shosts.equiv files. prevents CWE-284
RHEL 8 (2 rules)
- V-230283 There must be no shosts.equiv files on the RHEL 8 operating system. prevents CWE-284
- V-230284 There must be no .shosts files on the RHEL 8 operating system. prevents CWE-284