Affects HPE AOS-8 networking OS used broadly; unauthenticated admin takeover can disrupt enterprise network operations.
CVE-2026-79856
Unauthenticated buffer overflow in AOS-8 PAPI allows administrative takeover
Is CVE-2026-79856 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-79856 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 0.61% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How severe is CVE-2026-79856?
CVE-2026-79856 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.8. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-79856?
Not known from our data. No patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2026-79856, which is not the same as no patch existing — a fix may have shipped without a tagged reference, or after this record was written. The vendor advisory is the only authority on whether a fix exists, and mitigations may be available regardless.
What does CVE-2026-79856 affect?
CVE-2026-79856 affects HPE AOS-8 (PAPI-enabled devices), HPE networking appliances running AOS-8. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-79856?
Apply vendor patch ASAP; block PAPI from untrusted networks; restrict management plane
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
Unauthenticated remote exploit bypasses auth, grants administrative access, allows config changes and data access/manipulation.
Immediate action required
- affected>= 8.13.0.0 and <= 8.13.3.0
- affected>= 8.10.0.0 and <= 8.10.0.23
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.