CVE-2026-4387 PUBLISHED

Unencrypted storage of authentication state in StrongDM Desktop Application state.kv file

Assigner: StrongDM
Reserved: 18.03.2026 Published: 29.05.2026 Updated: 29.05.2026

StrongDM Desktop Application before 23.74.0 (Desktop Client before 53.77.0) on Microsoft Windows stores authentication state, including a JSON Web Token and asymmetric key material, in cleartext in a per-user state file located at C:\Users\<username>.sdm\state.kv. The file is protected only by default user-level NTFS permissions.

Exploitation requires local read access to the affected user's profile directory and additional deployment and execution conditions on the target host.

The condition was reported through coordinated disclosure by Hope Walker (SpecterOps).

Metrics

CVSS 4.0

CVSS Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
CVSS Score: 2

Exploitability Metrics		Vulnerable System Impact Metrics		Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Attack Vector	Local	Confidentiality	Low	Confidentiality	Low
Attack Complexity	Low	Integrity	None	Integrity	Low
Attack Requirements	Present	Availability	None	Availability	Low
Privileges Required	Low
User Interaction	None

CVSS 4.0

Product Status

Vendor	StrongDM
Product	StrongDM Desktop Application
Versions	Default: unaffected affected from 0 to 23.74.0 (excl.)

Vendor	StrongDM
Product	StrongDM Desktop Client
Versions	Default: unaffected affected from 0 to 53.77.0 (excl.)

Solutions

Upgrade the StrongDM Desktop Application to version 23.74.0 or later (Desktop Client 53.77.0 or later). The fixed release protects the state.kv file at rest using a platform-native data-protection mechanism (Windows DPAPI on Windows).

Credits

Hope Walker, SpecterOps finder

References

StrongDM Security Advisory

Problem Types

CWE-312 Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information CWE
CWE-522 Insufficiently Protected Credentials CWE

Impacts

An attacker with local read access to the affected user's profile directory may obtain authentication state stored in the state.kv file. Under specific deployment and execution conditions, the recovered material could be used to authenticate against StrongDM-brokered resources as the affected user.