CVE-2026-76714

Executive Summary

CVE-2026-76714 is an OS command injection vulnerability (CWE-78) in the web interface of Aruba Networks' Analytics and Location Engine (ALE). An authenticated remote user with access to the web management interface can inject and execute arbitrary operating system commands, which run with root privileges on the underlying host. Because the resulting command execution is as root, successful exploitation results in complete compromise of the ALE appliance or server and any data or credentials it holds.

Technical Analysis

The vulnerability resides in the web interface of Aruba Analytics and Location Engine. Per the NVD description, the flaw "allows remote authenticated users to run arbitrary commands on the underlying host," and a successful exploit "could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying operating system leading to complete system compromise." The assigned CWE is CWE-78 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command — 'OS Command Injection').

The mechanism is therefore command injection, not code injection or deserialization. In this class of flaw, attacker-controlled input supplied through a web-facing request is passed — without adequate sanitization or escaping — into an operating system command executed by the application or its supporting components. Shell metacharacters embedded in that input are interpreted by the command interpreter rather than treated as literal data, allowing the attacker to append or substitute commands. Because the resulting process inherits the privileges of the component invoking it, and the description states commands execute as root, the injection point runs in a privileged context.

The attack surface is the ALE web interface, which is network-reachable (CVSS AV:N). Exploitation requires authentication (PR:H), and the description does not indicate any user interaction requirement (UI:N). The CVSS vector rates Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability impacts as High, consistent with root-level execution on the host: an attacker can read any file, modify or destroy system and application data, and terminate or disable services.

No specific endpoint paths, request parameters, function names, or vulnerable code snippets are provided in the NVD description or CNA title. This report deliberately does not invent them. The precise injection vector — which web route, form field, or API parameter carries the unsanitized input — is not derivable from the supplied data and requires vendor confirmation or independent analysis of the product. No affected version ranges were supplied by any tracked source, so the exact set of vulnerable releases cannot be enumerated here.

The EPSS score is 0.00841 (56.2nd percentile), indicating a modest but non-trivial predicted probability of exploitation activity in the near term. The presence of a public PoC is noted in the supplied data, which raises the practical likelihood that the injection vector will be identified and weaponized even without a vendor patch.

Exploitation Scenarios

The attack chain for CVE-2026-76714 proceeds as follows, described at the vulnerability-class level where the supplied data lacks implementation specifics.

1. Reconnaissance and target identification. The attacker identifies an exposed Aruba Analytics and Location Engine deployment by locating its web interface on the network — via internet-wide scanning services, internal network enumeration, or discovery of the management UI during a broader engagement. Because the interface is network-accessible, it can be found with standard service and content discovery techniques.

2. Access acquisition and authentication. The flaw requires an authenticated session ("remote authenticated users"). The attacker must obtain valid credentials for the web interface — through legitimate accounts, credential reuse, password spraying against administrative accounts, or prior credential compromise. Privilege required is High (PR:H) per the CVSS vector, meaning the attacker needs an account with access to whatever functionality contains the injection point.

3. Triggering the injection. Within the authenticated web interface, the attacker supplies crafted input to the vulnerable input path — the value is passed to an OS command without proper neutralization. Shell metacharacters in the supplied input cause the underlying command interpreter to execute attacker-chosen commands in addition to, or instead of, the intended command. The NVD description confirms this results in arbitrary command execution on the host.

4. Execution and post-exploitation impact. Commands execute as root. Per the description, this "leads to complete system compromise." The attacker can then read sensitive configuration and credential material, modify or delete data, install persistence, disable security controls, pivot to other systems reachable from the host, or disrupt the location analytics service entirely.

No public exploit code is tracked as available in the supplied data, though a public PoC status is recorded. The specific request shape, endpoint, and parameter names are not provided by the NVD description or CNA title and are not fabricated here. Any operational test of this chain requires vendor-verified details or independent product analysis, and should be conducted only in authorized environments.

Impact Assessment

The CVSS 3.1 base score is 7.2 (High). The subscores are: Attack Vector Network (AV:N), Attack Complexity Low (AC:L), Privileges Required High (PR:H), User Interaction None (UI:N), Scope Unchanged (S:U), Confidentiality High (C:H), Integrity High (I:H), Availability High (A:H).

Scope Unchanged means the impact is confined to the vulnerable ALE component and its host, rather than crossing a security authority boundary in the scoring model — but the impact within that scope is total, since root command execution on the host yields full control of the system. High integrity impact means system and application data can be modified or destroyed; High confidentiality means all data readable by root is exposed; High availability means services can be halted.

Business impact includes compromise of the ALE host and whatever location analytics data, configuration, and credentials it stores. ALE typically sits in enterprise wireless and location-services environments, so a compromised host can serve as a pivot point into the surrounding network. Because exploitation requires valid credentials and low complexity, an attacker who already holds a low- or mid-tier management credential can escalate to root — making this a meaningful post-authentication escalation primitive. Blast radius extends from the appliance itself to any systems trusting the compromised credentials or reachable from the host.

Detection Guidance

Sigma Rule

title: Aruba ALE Web Interface OS Command Injection Exploitation Attempt
id: 8f2a1c3e-76714-4b21-9e77-a1b2c3d4e5f6
status: experimental
description: Detects command injection attempts against the Aruba Analytics and Location Engine web interface via common shell metacharacters in HTTP requests
references:
  - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-76714
author: valtersit.com
date: 2026-01-01
logsource:
  category: webserver
  product: aruba_ale
detection:
  selection_method:
    cs-method:
      - GET
      - POST
  selection_metachar:
    cs-uri-query|contains:
      - ';'
      - '|'
      - '`'
      - '$(('
      - '&&'
      - '||'
      - '%3b'
      - '%7c'
      - '%60'
  selection_cmd_keywords:
    cs-uri-query|contains:
      - 'id'
      - 'whoami'
      - 'uname'
      - 'curl '
      - 'wget '
      - 'nc '
      - '/bin/sh'
      - '/bin/bash'
  condition: selection_method and selection_metachar and selection_cmd_keywords
fields:
  - c-ip
  - cs-uri
  - cs-method
  - cs-user-agent
falsepositives:
  - Legitimate administrative input containing shell metacharacters
level: high

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2026_76714_Aruba_ALE_CmdInjection_HTTP
{
    meta:
        description = "Detects HTTP request patterns indicative of OS command injection against Aruba Analytics and Location Engine web interface"
        reference = "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-76714"
        cve = "CVE-2026-76714"
        author = "valtersit.com"
        date = "2026-01-01"

    strings:
        $a = "Analytics and Location Engine"
        $m1 = ";" ascii
        $m2 = "|" ascii
        $m3 = "`" ascii
        $m4 = "$(" ascii
        $c1 = "/bin/sh" ascii
        $c2 = "/bin/bash" ascii
        $c3 = "whoami" ascii
        $c4 = "id;" ascii
        $c5 = "wget " ascii
        $c6 = "curl " ascii

    condition:
        $a and 2 of ($m*) and 1 of ($c*)
}

Suricata IDS Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2026-76714 Aruba ALE Web Interface OS Command Injection Attempt"; flow:established,to_server; http.method; content:"GET"; http.uri; pcre:"/(?:%3B|;|%7C|\||%60|`|\$\(|%24%28)/i"; http.uri; content:"Analytics"; nocase; reference:cve,CVE-2026-76714; classtype:web-application-attack; sid:202676714; rev:1;)

Elastic Detection

process where event.type == "start" and
  process.parent.name in ("httpd", "apache2", "nginx", "tomcat", "java", "node") and
  process.name in ("sh", "bash", "dash", "cmd.exe", "powershell.exe") and
  (
    process.command_line : "*CVE*" or
    process.command_line : "*whoami*" or
    process.command_line : "*id;*" or
    process.command_line : "*uname -a*" or
    process.command_line : "*curl *" or
    process.command_line : "*wget *"
  )

Splunk SPL Query

index=web sourcetype=access_combined
(uri="*ALE*" OR uri="*Analytics*" OR uri="*Location*")
(uri="*%3B*" OR uri="*;*" OR uri="*%7C*" OR uri="*|*" OR uri="*%60*" OR uri="*`*" OR uri="*%24%28*" OR uri="*$(*")
(uri="*whoami*" OR uri="*id*" OR uri="*uname*" OR uri="*curl*" OR uri="*wget*" OR uri="*bin/sh*" OR uri="*bin/bash*")
| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by src_ip, uri, status
| where count > 0
| sort - count

Wazuh OSSEC Rule

<group name="web,aruba_ale,attack,">
  <rule id="100767" level="12">
    <if_sid>31100</if_sid>
    <id>^31103$|^31104$|^31106$</id>
    <match>ALE|Analytics|Location</match>
    <regex>(\;|\||\`|\$\(|%3B|%7C|%60|%24%28)</regex>
    <description>CVE-2026-76714: Possible OS command injection attempt against Aruba ALE web interface</description>
    <mitre>
      <id>T1190</id>
    </mitre>
    <group>cve_2026_76714,</group>
  </rule>
</group>

Mitigation & Patch Guidance

Patch confidence is 0/4 — UNPATCHED. No patch evidence exists from any tracked source, no vendor fix is recorded, and no workarounds have been published. Treat all Aruba Analytics and Location Engine deployments connected to the web interface as potentially vulnerable until the vendor confirms otherwise.

1. Immediate mitigations

• Restrict network access to the ALE web interface: place it behind a management VLAN, VPN, or a jump host, and block it from untrusted networks. This directly removes the AV:N exposure that the CVSS vector assumes.
• Enforce strong, unique credentials and least-privilege accounts for the web interface, since exploitation requires authentication (PR:H). Audit accounts for access to the interface and remove unused ones.
• Enable verbose web and system logging and alert on shell metacharacters and outbound connections from the ALE host, using the detection content in this report.
• If the interface is not operationally required, disable it.

2. Patch/upgrade steps

• Monitor Aruba Networks' security advisory channels and the NVD entry for CVE-2026-76714 for a fixed release. No affected-version or fixed-version information is available at this time.
• Once the vendor publishes a patch, test it in a non-production replica and deploy promptly.
• Since no CVE was published in CISA KEV as of this report, no mandated federal remediation timeline applies; organizations should still track vendor guidance closely.

3. Long-term hardening

• Apply network segmentation so management interfaces of security and analytics appliances are unreachable from user and internet-facing networks.
• Adopt a strict patch-management cadence and subscribe to Aruba advisories to reduce exposure windows.
• Enforce multi-factor authentication on management interfaces and monitor for anomalous credential use.
• Monitor EPSS and KEV for re-prioritization; the EPSS percentile (56.2%) and public PoC status warrant continued attention.

References

1. NVD — CVE-2026-76714: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-76714
2. CWE-78 — Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/78.html
3. MITRE ATT&CK T1190 — Exploit Public-Facing Application: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1190/
4. Aruba Networks Security Advisories (vendor portal, monitor for ALE advisory): https://www.arubanetworks.com/support-services/security-bulletins/
5. FIRST EPSS — CVE-2026-76714 score lookup: https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2026-76714

No threat actor campaigns or confirmed exploit-in-the-wild evidence were identified in the supplied data. CVE-2026-76714 is not listed in CISA KEV. A public PoC status is recorded in the supplied data, but no exploit code was tracked as available.