CVE-2024-49597 Overview
CVE-2024-49597 affects Dell Wyse Management Suite (WMS) versions 4.4 and prior. The vulnerability is categorized as Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts [CWE-307]. A remote attacker with high privileges can exploit the flaw to bypass a protection mechanism intended to limit repeated authentication attempts.
Dell published Security Advisory DSA-2024-440 addressing the issue. The vulnerability requires network access and authenticated privileges but no user interaction. Successful exploitation impacts confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected management suite.
Critical Impact
Attackers with elevated access can bypass authentication throttling controls in Dell Wyse Management Suite, enabling brute-force or credential-guessing activity against additional accounts and undermining a core protection mechanism in the thin client management platform.
Affected Products
- Dell Wyse Management Suite 4.4
- Dell Wyse Management Suite versions prior to 4.4
- Deployments managing Wyse thin clients through the WMS console
Discovery Timeline
- 2024-11-26 - CVE-2024-49597 published to the National Vulnerability Database
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in the NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2024-49597
Vulnerability Analysis
Dell Wyse Management Suite is a centralized platform for provisioning and managing Wyse thin client endpoints. The vulnerability stems from insufficient enforcement of limits on authentication attempts against the management interface. This weakness aligns with CWE-307: Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts.
An attacker with existing high-privilege access to the network-reachable service can repeatedly submit authentication requests without triggering the lockout or rate-limiting controls expected on a management platform. Bypassing these controls weakens defense-in-depth around administrative accounts and paves the way for credential-based follow-on attacks.
According to the enriched data, no public proof-of-concept exploit is available, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. The EPSS probability of near-term exploitation remains low relative to broadly exploited flaws.
Root Cause
The root cause is missing or ineffective throttling logic on the authentication endpoint. Systems mapped to [CWE-307] typically fail to track failed attempts per account, per source, or per session, or fail to apply progressive delays or account lockouts. In WMS 4.4 and prior, this results in the authentication mechanism accepting arbitrarily high volumes of attempts without meaningful backoff.
Attack Vector
The attack vector is remote over the network. An authenticated attacker with high privileges targets the WMS authentication interface and issues large volumes of credential submissions. Because the protection mechanism is bypassed, the attacker can conduct credential guessing, password spraying, or session-related probing against other accounts served by the same management plane. Refer to the Dell Security Advisory DSA-2024-440 for vendor-specific technical details.
Detection Methods for CVE-2024-49597
Indicators of Compromise
- High volumes of authentication requests directed at the Wyse Management Suite console within short time windows
- Repeated failed logins for one or many WMS accounts without a corresponding lockout event
- Authentication attempts originating from unexpected internal hosts or administrative jump boxes
- Successful logins immediately following bursts of failures against the same account
Detection Strategies
- Baseline normal authentication rates against the WMS management interface and alert on statistical deviations
- Correlate WMS authentication logs with network flow data to identify sources generating abnormal request volumes
- Monitor for privileged account activity that deviates from typical administrative workflows and schedules
Monitoring Recommendations
- Forward WMS authentication and application logs to a centralized SIEM or data lake for retention and correlation
- Enable alerting on repeated failed authentication events, including cases where lockout thresholds should have triggered but did not
- Review administrative account inventories and disable dormant high-privilege accounts that could be targeted
How to Mitigate CVE-2024-49597
Immediate Actions Required
- Upgrade Dell Wyse Management Suite to the fixed release documented in Dell Security Advisory DSA-2024-440
- Restrict network reachability of the WMS console to trusted administrative networks and jump hosts
- Rotate credentials for high-privilege WMS accounts and enforce strong password policies
- Enable multi-factor authentication for administrative access where supported
Patch Information
Dell has released a fixed version of Wyse Management Suite addressing CVE-2024-49597. Administrators should review the Dell Security Advisory DSA-2024-440 for the specific fixed version and upgrade instructions. Apply the update to all WMS instances running version 4.4 or prior.
Workarounds
- Place the WMS management interface behind a VPN or network segment accessible only to administrators
- Implement upstream rate limiting or a web application firewall in front of the WMS authentication endpoint
- Reduce the number of high-privilege accounts and enforce least-privilege role assignments within WMS
- Increase log retention and monitoring on the management plane until the patch is deployed
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
