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System RecoveryApplication · Veritas

CVE-2022-26778

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-03-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Veritas System Recovery (VSR) 18 and 21 stores a network destination password in the Windows registry during configuration of the backup configuration. This could allow a Windows user (who has sufficient privileges) to access a network file system that they were not authorized to access.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Veritas System Recovery stores network destination passwords in plaintext in the Windows registry during backup configuration. This allows any Windows user with sufficient privileges to read these credentials from the registry and use them to access the associated network file systems beyond their authorized scope.

MitigationRemove or rotate the stored network passwords in the registry, reconfigure backup jobs to use more secure credential management mechanisms such as Windows Credential Manager or dedicated privilege access management solutions, and review access controls on registry keys containing sensitive backup credentials.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
System RecoveryApplication
Affected:= 18.0= 21

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if Veritas System Recovery is installed
    Check installed programs via Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | DisplayName' to list installed software. Look for 'Veritas System Recovery' in the results.
    Affected if Veritas System Recovery appears in the installed programs list
  2. Check the installed version
    Run 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like "*Veritas System Recovery*"} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion' to retrieve the version number.
    Affected if The version is 18.0 or 21 (or any 21.x release)
  3. Locate registry keys used for backup configuration
    Search the Windows registry under HKLM or HKCU for keys containing terms like 'Veritas System Recovery', 'Backup', 'NetworkDestination', or 'credential' using regedit or 'Get-ChildItem -Path HKLM:\,HKCU:\ -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*Veritas*" -or $_.Name -like "*Backup*"}'.
    Affected if Registry keys related to Veritas System Recovery backup jobs exist on the system
  4. Inspect registry values for plaintext passwords
    Examine the identified registry keys for string values that contain passwords or credential data. Use 'Get-ItemProperty' on the discovered key paths to view all value names and data, looking for fields named 'Password', 'Cred', 'NetworkPassword', or similar.
    Affected if Any registry value contains plaintext password data associated with network destination paths
  5. Verify registry key permissions
    Right-click the identified registry key in regedit, select Permissions, and check which users or groups have Read access. Alternatively, run 'Get-Acl -Path "HKLM:\...\YourKeyPath" | Select-Object Owner, AccessToString'.
    Affected if Users other than Administrators or SYSTEM have read access to registry keys containing backup credentials

You are affected if Veritas System Recovery version 18.0 or 21 is installed AND plaintext passwords exist in the registry for backup network destinations, which can be read by non-privileged users.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Remove or rotate the stored network passwords in the registry, reconfigure backup jobs to use more secure credential management mechanisms such as Windows Credential Manager or dedicated privilege access management solutions, and review access controls on registry keys containing sensitive backup credentials.

Fix this in System Recovery Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-26778 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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