# CVE-2022-26865: Auth bypass in Dell OS Recovery Tool

> An unauthenticated attacker with physical access can bypass authentication to execute arbitrary code as Administrator on systems using Dell Support Assist OS Recovery.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 26 May 2022
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8q4m-mmx3-p9jx

## What is CVE-2022-26865?

CVE-2022-26865 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Dell OS Recovery Tool, published on 26 May 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Dell Support Assist OS Recovery versions before 5.5.2 contain an Authentication Bypass vulnerability. An unauthenticated attacker with physical access to the system may exploit this vulnerability by bypassing OS Recovery authentication in order to run arbitrary code on the system as Administrator.

Weakness: CWE-287 (Improper Authentication), CWE-288 (Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-26865?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Dell Supportassist Os Recovery.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-26865?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-26865 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-26865 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-26865 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Dell OS Recovery Tool

- [CVE-2025-38747](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-38747/): Privilege escalation in SupportAssist OS Recovery (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2025-46685](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-46685/): Privilege escalation in SupportAssist OS Recovery (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2025-22480](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-22480/): Path traversal in Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery (high 7.0)
- [CVE-2025-46684](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-46684/): Other in SupportAssist OS Recovery, (medium 6.6)
- [CVE-2025-46602](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-46602/): Information disclosure in SupportAssist OS Recovery (medium 4.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-26865 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-26865 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Dell OS Recovery Tool, published on 26 May 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-26865 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Dell OS Recovery Tool. 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-2022-26865/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-26865/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-26865
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-26865
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-26865

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-26865/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.