Detect Quest KACE SMA Improper Authentication Exploitation Detected in Elastic Security
Detects exploitation attempts against CVE-2025-32975, an improper authentication vulnerability (CWE-287) in Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA). This KEV-listed vulnerability allows attackers to bypass authentication controls, potentially enabling unauthorized access to the SMA management interface and downstream managed endpoints. Successful exploitation could lead to full appliance compromise and lateral movement across managed systems.
MITRE ATT&CK
Elastic Detection Query
sequence by source.ip with maxspan=5m
[network where event.category == "network" and
destination.port in (80, 443, 8080, 8443) and
url.path : ("/admin*", "/userui*", "/api/users*", "/service/*")]
[network where event.category == "network" and
destination.port in (80, 443, 8080, 8443) and
url.path : ("/admin*", "/userui*", "/api/users*", "/service/*") and
http.response.status_code in (200, 302, 301)]
| where #sequencesFound >= 2Uses EQL sequence detection to identify authentication bypass patterns against KACE SMA: a source IP making repeated requests to administrative endpoints and receiving successful (2xx/3xx) responses, potentially indicating bypass of authentication controls.
Data Sources
Required Tables
False Positives & Tuning
- Legitimate administrator sessions generating multiple successful requests to KACE admin paths
- Automated configuration management tools making authenticated API calls
- Browser redirects from HTTP to HTTPS on the KACE management interface
- Session token refresh flows in the KACE web application
Other platforms for CVE-2025-32975
Testing Methodology
Validate this detection against 3 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.
- Test 1KACE SMA Unauthenticated Admin Endpoint Enumeration
Expected signal: Web server access logs showing GET requests to /admin, /userui, /api/users, /service/ambari without authentication cookies; network flow records showing HTTP connections to KACE SMA on port 443
- Test 2KACE SMA Authentication Bypass Simulation via Missing Auth Header
Expected signal: Web server logs showing requests to /admin/, /admin/index.php, /api/users with empty or missing authentication cookies; HTTP response codes indicating whether bypass was successful (200/302) or properly rejected (401/403)
- Test 3Post-Exploitation KACE Agent Script Deployment Simulation
Expected signal: KACE SMA audit log entry showing script creation by the test account; network logs showing authentication followed by POST request to /api/script; SIEM alert on new script creation event from an account that recently logged in from an unusual IP
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Get the full detection package for CVE-2025-32975 including response playbook, investigation guide, and atomic red team tests.