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CriticalCISA KEVExploited in the wildPublic exploit

Hardcoded Tomcat Manager Credentials in Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines

IdentifiersCVE-2026-22769CWE-798· Use of Hard-coded Credentials

CVE-2026-22769 is a critical use-of-hard-coded-credentials vulnerability in Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines affecting versions prior to 6.0.3.1 HF1. The issue is caused by hardcoded administrative credentials for the integrated Apache Tomcat Manager, reported in Tomcat configuration files such as tomcat-users.xml on the appliance. An attacker with knowledge of the embedded credential can authenticate remotely to the Tomcat Manager interface and abuse the /manager/text/deploy endpoint to upload a malicious WAR archive. Observed exploitation deployed the SLAYSTYLE web shell, after which attackers were able to execute commands as root on the appliance. Reporting also indicates attackers established persistence by modifying legitimate startup-related scripts such as convert_hosts.sh, and then used the compromised appliance as a foothold for broader post-compromise activity.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can give an unauthenticated remote attacker unauthorized access to the underlying RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines appliance operating system with root-level code execution and persistence. In observed intrusions, attackers used this access to deploy web shells and backdoors including SLAYSTYLE, BRICKSTORM, and GRIMBOLT; move laterally; pivot into VMware and internal infrastructure; maintain long-term access; and potentially undermine backup and disaster recovery systems. Given the role of the product, compromise can affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability and may impair restoration capability during incident response or ransomware recovery.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate upgrade is not possible, apply Dell’s remediation script from DSA-2026-079 as an urgent interim measure. Restrict RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines to trusted, access-controlled internal networks only; do not expose it to untrusted or public networks; and enforce firewalling and segmentation around the appliance. Monitor for suspicious access to Apache Tomcat Manager, especially requests to /manager and /manager/text/deploy, review Tomcat deployment directories and logs for unauthorized WAR deployment, inspect startup script modifications such as convert_hosts.sh, and hunt for known post-exploitation artifacts and malware associated with this activity. Because exploitation in the wild has been reported, organizations should assume possible prior compromise and validate appliance integrity and backup trustworthiness.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines to version 6.0.3.1 HF1 or later. Dell also provided a vendor remediation script referenced in advisory DSA-2026-079 for cases where immediate upgrade is not possible. For older 5.3 releases, Dell indicates customers may need to first migrate or upgrade to a supported release before applying the final fixed version or remediation path. Because the vulnerability has been actively exploited as a zero-day, remediation should be paired with incident response review to determine whether compromise occurred prior to patching.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

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VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

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EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

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VendorProductType
Dell TechnologiesRecoverpoint For Virtual Machinesapplication

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Exposure mapping

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Threat actor evidence40

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware73

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Detection signatures1

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Vendor-by-vendor mapping

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Social activity128

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