Unauthenticated RCE in widely deployed HPE AOS network OS can lead to device takeover and broad network disruption; enterprise networking outage risk is high.
CVE-2026-79872
Unauthenticated remote code execution in AOS underlying OS via buffer overflow
Is CVE-2026-79872 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-79872 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 0.56% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How severe is CVE-2026-79872?
CVE-2026-79872 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.4. 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-2026-79872?
Not known from our data. No patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2026-79872, 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-2026-79872 affect?
CVE-2026-79872 affects HPE AOS-based network appliances, HPE/Aruba switches running AOS, HPE/Aruba controllers and access points running AOS. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-79872?
Isolate affected devices, restrict management access, apply vendor patch/mitigations when published
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
Unauthenticated remote buffer overflow enabling privileged arbitrary code execution, full device compromise and lateral network pivoting.
Immediate action required
- affected>= 10.8.0.0 and <= 10.8.1.1
- affected>= 10.7.0.0 and <= 10.7.2.6
- affected>= 10.4.0.0 and <= 10.4.1.13
- 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.