CVE-2026-81478 is a high severity (8.1) hard-coded cryptographic key flaw in Dell OpenManage Server Administrator before 11.1.0.3. An unauthenticated attacker with network access could potentially gain unauthorized access, with high attack complexity. Dell fixed it in 11.1.0.3. Upgrade every OMSA host.
What's affected
Dell's advisory DSA-2026-403 lists Dell OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) versions before 11.1.0.3 as affected. The fixed version is 11.1.0.3. The advisory covers 21 CVEs in one update and rates the overall impact as high.
The affected builds are the Managed Node (Patch) for Windows, and Managed Node for RHEL 8.10, RHEL 9.4, SLES 15 and Ubuntu 22.04. Dell lists no workarounds.
How to check if you're exposed
Find every server where OMSA is installed. It is often installed by the server provisioning process and then forgotten. Check the OMSA version on each host through the OMSA interface or the installed package list for your operating system, and compare it to 11.1.0.3.
Then check network exposure. The record describes an unauthenticated attacker with network access, so OMSA listeners reachable from outside the management network are the first to fix. The advisory title refers to network access vulnerabilities.
What to do now
- List every host running OMSA, across Windows, RHEL, SLES and Ubuntu.
- Upgrade to 11.1.0.3 or later using the driver pages linked in Dell's advisory DSA-2026-403 for your platform.
- Confirm OMSA is reachable only from your management network, and block it elsewhere until the upgrade is done.
- If you cannot upgrade a host soon, consider whether OMSA needs to be running on it at all.
- Re-scan after the upgrade to confirm the old version is gone.
Why it matters
The weakness is CWE-321, use of a hard-coded cryptographic key. If the same key ships in every copy of a product, anyone who extracts it from one copy can use it against all of them. Encryption or signing built on that key then protects very little.
The record is not flagged in CISA's KEV catalog. As with the other OMSA issues in advisory DSA-2026-403, the fix is the 11.1.0.3 release and no workaround is listed.
Quick check
Why is a shared key a problem?
Because it is not secret once it is found in one install. Every deployment that uses it is exposed until the product is updated.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
