Affects widely deployed HPE Aruba AOS-8 network OS; auth bypass allows admin takeover and full device compromise — high-impact to enterprise networks and infrastructure.
CVE-2026-79868
Authentication bypass in HPE AOS-8 allows administrative takeover
Is CVE-2026-79868 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-79868 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 0.27% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How severe is CVE-2026-79868?
CVE-2026-79868 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.6. 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-2026-79868?
Not known from our data. No patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2026-79868, 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-2026-79868 affect?
CVE-2026-79868 affects HPE Aruba AOS-8 (ArubaOS/AOS-CX) devices, Aruba switches/controllers running AOS-8. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-79868?
Isolate affected devices, apply HPE mitigations, patch when vendor releases update
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
An unauthenticated adjacent attacker can bypass authentication, gain administrative access, change device configs, and fully compromise affected network devices.
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.