Unity Operating EnvironmentApplication · Dell

CVE-2022-29084

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-06-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.2.0.0.5.173 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
Dell Unity, Dell UnityVSA, and Dell Unity XT versions before 5.2.0.0.5.173 do not restrict excessive authentication attempts in Unisphere GUI. A remote unauthenticated attacker may potentially exploit this vulnerability to brute-force passwords and gain access to the system as the victim. Account takeover is possible if weak passwords are used by users.

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

Dell Unity storage systems running versions before 5.2.0.0.5.173 lack rate limiting on the Unisphere GUI login page, allowing unlimited authentication attempts from a single source. This enables remote unauthenticated attackers to perform brute-force password attacks against valid user accounts, leading to potential account takeover.

MitigationApply Dell vendor patch 5.2.0.0.5.173 or later to implement account lockout and rate limiting. Enforce strong password policies as defense-in-depth while patching.

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
Unity Operating EnvironmentApplication
Affected:< 5.2.0.0.5.173
Unity Xt Operating EnvironmentApplication
Affected:< 5.2.0.0.5.173
Unityvsa Operating EnvironmentApplication
Affected:< 5.2.0.0.5.173

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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 checks

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

  1. Identify the Dell Unity system version
    Access the Unisphere GUI and navigate to the About or Settings page to view the Operating Environment version, or use the service CLI command 'version' or 'unisphere -version' if available
    Affected if The displayed version is any build earlier than 5.2.0.0.5.173 (for example, 5.1.x.x or 5.0.x.x)
  2. Confirm Unisphere GUI is accessible
    Verify that the Unisphere web interface is reachable over HTTPS/HTTP on the management network by accessing the login page URL
    Affected if The Unisphere login page is accessible from a network location (even if only internally)
  3. Check if authentication rate limiting is enforced
    Attempt multiple failed login attempts from a single source IP address against the Unisphere login page using a test account or monitoring login logs
    Affected if There is no account lockout or rate limiting after repeated failed attempts (no captcha, no temporary lockout, no IP-based throttling)

You are affected if your Dell Unity system runs a version earlier than 5.2.0.0.5.173 and the Unisphere GUI is accessible, with no rate limiting enforced on login attempts.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.2.0.0.5.173 or later
Fixed in 5.2.0.0.5.173
Interim mitigation

Apply Dell vendor patch 5.2.0.0.5.173 or later to implement account lockout and rate limiting. Enforce strong password policies as defense-in-depth while patching.

Recommended fix High confidence

Unity Operating Environment 5.2.0.0.5.173 or later (including Unity XT and UnityVSA)

  1. 1. Back up all critical data and configurations from the current Unity system
  2. 2. Review Dell Unity 5.2.0.0.5.173 release notes for any pre-upgrade requirements
  3. 3. Schedule a maintenance window as the upgrade may require system downtime
  4. 4. Download Dell Unity Operating Environment version 5.2.0.0.5.173 or later from Dell Support (support.dell.com)
  5. 5. Apply the upgrade following Dell's official upgrade procedure for your specific Unity model
  6. 6. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the Unisphere GUI version information
  7. 7. Confirm the authentication attempt lockout feature is now enforced in Unisphere settings
Caveat Review Dell migration/upgrade documentation for any configuration changes or migration steps required; ensure compatibility with connected systems

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Unity Operating Environment 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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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2022-29084 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data