---
id: CVE-2026-65197
title: >-
  H3C HDM Family-A verifies the RSA signature of a firmware image against a
  public key it reads from the mutable file `/conf/public.pem`
summary: >-
  H3C HDM Family-A verifies the RSA signature of a firmware image against a
  public key it reads from the mutable file `/conf/public.pem`. That file is
  writable by an authenticated Redfish client through the
  `UpdateService.UploadSignKey` ac…
severity: low
cvss: 3.1
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-347
published: '2026-10-13'
updated: '2026-10-13'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-13T15:17:46.690'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-65197'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://www.runzero.com/advisories/h3c-hdm-firmware-verification-key-replacement-cve-2026-65197
    label: 44488dab-36db-4358-99f9-bc116477f914
tags:
  - nvd
ingestedAt: '2026-10-13T15:33:40.079Z'
---

## Overview

H3C HDM Family-A verifies the RSA signature of a firmware image against a public key it reads from the mutable file `/conf/public.pem`. That file is writable by an authenticated Redfish client through the `UpdateService.UploadSignKey` action, which stores the uploaded body verbatim after validating only that the multipart filename ends in `.pem`. An administrator, or any account with `firmware-update` privilege, can therefore replace the trust anchor with their own key, sign a malicious image with the matching private key, and have it pass verification. Family-A has no hardware root-of-trust (no PFR) to catch the substituted key. 

This was observed on H3C HDM Family-A G5 HDM 6.14.01. H3C HDM Family-A G3/G5 builds carrying the Redfish/DRE update tree appear to be affected. HDM2 uses a different update path and is not covered by this finding.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.