# CVE-2018-15766: Dell Encryption and Dell Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise Security Policy Overwrite Vulnerability

> Dell Encryption installation overwrites password length policies, allowing users to set weak passwords and bypass security controls.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 11 Oct 2018
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-fpvq-32pp-84f9

## What is CVE-2018-15766?

CVE-2018-15766 is a high-severity vulnerability in Dell Encryption, published on 11 Oct 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

On install, Dell Encryption versions prior 10.0.1 and Dell Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise versions prior 2.0.1 will overwrite and manually set the "Minimum Password Length" group policy object to a value of 1 on that device. This allows for users to bypass any existing policy for password length and potentially create insecure password on their device. This value is defined during the installation of the "Encryption Management Agent" or "EMAgent" application. There are no other known values modified.

Weakness: CWE-521 (Weak Password Requirements)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-15766?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Dell Encryption, Dell Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-15766?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-15766 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-15766 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-15766 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Dell Encryption

- [CVE-2025-36564](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-36564/): Privilege escalation in Encryption Admin Utilities (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2025-46637](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-46637/): Path traversal in Dell Encryption (high 7.3)
- [CVE-2025-36611](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-36611/): Path traversal in Encryption (high 7.3)
- [CVE-2023-32479](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-32479/): Privilege escalation in Dell Encryption (medium 6.7)
- [CVE-2020-5385](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5385/): Privilege escalation in Dell Encryption Enterprise (medium 6.7)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-15766 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-15766 is a high-severity vulnerability in Dell Encryption, published on 11 Oct 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-15766 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Dell Encryption. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15766/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15766/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-15766
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-15766
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-15766

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15766/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.