Cisco License On-Prem: Insufficiently protected credentials
Summary
Cisco License On-Prem (formerly Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem) does not sufficiently protect credentials, classified as CWE-522. The CVE data gives a CVSS 9.1 score for network-reachable exploitation without privileges, and Cisco's advisory describes a high impact on confidentiality and integrity; Cisco does not publish technical details. Cisco has not observed public exploitation, and the fix is available in release 10-202609, while 9-series and older releases must be migrated.
Affected
- Cisco License On-Prem 10-202608 and earlier
- Cisco License On-Prem 9-202601 and earlier, including former Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem releases
- Older 7- and 8-series builds listed in the CVE record (default status: unknown)
- Not affected: Cisco Smart Licensing Utility
Fixed in
- 10-202609 (not vulnerable)
- 9-202601 and earlier: no patch; migrate to a fixed release as described in the Cisco release notes
Workaround
No workarounds available.
Exploitation
- Cisco PSIRT is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use.
- CISA SSVC data: exploitation none, automatable yes, technical impact total.
- EPSS score of 0.00222 (low predicted exploitation probability).
- No public proof of concept found in the research.
Our recommendation
- Inventory all Cisco License On-Prem and SSM On-Prem instances, including legacy ones.
- Upgrade 10-series systems to 10-202609.
- Plan and carry out migration for 9-series and older systems.
- Check whether the license server is reachable from outside the internal network and restrict access to the management interface.
- After patching, consider rotating credentials and keys stored on the server as a precaution.
- Monitor the server for unusual logins and include stored-credential exposure in the incident response plan.
Public exploits
PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit and Exploit-DB list nothing for this CVE.
Research sources
- Cisco Security Advisory cisco-sa-hardening-ssm-Ph77wdhf sec.cloudapps.cisco.com
- Cisco License On-Prem 10-202609 Release Notes www.cisco.com
- Rapid7 via Vulners: CVE-2026-76483 vulners.com
- VulnCheck via Vulners: CVE-2026-76483 vulners.com
- OpenCVE: CVE-2026-76483 app.opencve.io
- Strix: CVE-2026-76483 www.strix.ai
- eSecurityPlanet: Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem critical flaws www.esecurityplanet.com
- Secure-ISS: Cisco License On-Prem critical vulnerabilities www.secure-iss.com
Researched and written up in English and German by an AI (Claude by Anthropic) based on NVD, CISA, EPSS and the sources listed. The vendor information is authoritative. Researched on 31 Oct 2026, 07:15.
Original description (NVD)
As part of Cisco's ongoing commitment to proactive security and product quality, the engineering team for Cisco License On-Prem, formerly Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem (SSM On-Prem), has conducted a comprehensive internal security review. This review resulted in software hardening releases that address multiple internally discovered vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities tracked by CVE-2026-76483 are related to issues with insufficiently protected credentials that are grouped under the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) Pillar CWE-522.
Sources
The tracker combines official, freely usable data sources – updated continuously:
- NVD (NIST) – CVEs, rating (CVSS), affected products
- CISA KEV – vulnerabilities confirmed by CISA as actively exploited
- CISA Vulnrichment – CISA assessment (SSVC) in the official CVE record
- FIRST EPSS – probability of exploitation
- Microsoft MSRC – Patch Tuesday: vulnerabilities, severity, updates
- PoC-in-GitHub – public proof-of-concept repositories
- Metasploit (Rapid7) – modules of the Metasploit Framework
- Exploit-DB (OffSec) – archive of public exploits (links only)
- Patch days: official vendor pages (linked per vendor) (Vendor patch days)
This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS data © FIRST.org.
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