CVE-2022-26865
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 · uneditedDell 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.
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 confidenceDell Support Assist OS Recovery versions before 5.5.2 contain an authentication bypass vulnerability that allows an unauthenticated attacker with physical access to bypass OS Recovery authentication and execute arbitrary code with Administrator privileges.
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= 5.5.1CVSS 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
- Physical
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Dell Support Assist OS Recovery is installedCheck for Dell Support Assist OS Recovery software on the system through Programs and Features (Windows) or package manager (Linux), or look for its installation directory under Program Files or Dell directoriesAffected if The software is present on the system
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Identify the installed version of Dell Support Assist OS RecoveryOpen the application or check its properties/About section to find the exact version number, or look in the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Dell\SupportAssist\OSRecovery for the Version valueAffected if The version displayed is 5.5.1 or any version earlier than 5.5.2
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Confirm the OS Recovery feature is enabledAccess the Dell Support Assist OS Recovery environment (typically accessed during boot via F12 or a dedicated recovery partition) and verify the recovery functionality is accessibleAffected if OS Recovery is accessible and the version is 5.5.1 or earlier
If Dell Support Assist OS Recovery version 5.5.1 is installed (or any version before 5.5.2), the system is affected by this authentication bypass vulnerability when physical access to the OS Recovery environment is possible.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpdate Dell Support Assist OS Recovery to version 5.5.2 or later. Physical security controls should be enforced to prevent unauthorized access to the system.
5.5.2
- Identify the current version of Dell Support Assist OS Recovery installed on the system
- Navigate to Dell's official support website (www.dell.com) and locate the Support Assist OS Recovery download page
- Download the version 5.5.2 update or latest available version from Dell's official support page
- Verify the downloaded file integrity using checksums if provided by Dell
- Execute the installer with Administrator privileges
- Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation
- Restart the system if prompted
- Confirm the installed version is 5.5.2 or later
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-26865 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-26865 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data