CVE-2026-78493 in Secure Connect Gateway
Summary
by MITRE • 09/09/2026
Dell SCG 5.0 Appliance versions prior to 5.36.00.16 and Dell SCG 5.0 Application versions prior to 5.36.00.00, contains an Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') vulnerability. A low privileged attacker with local access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to command execution.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/09/2026
The identified security flaw resides within Dell SCG 5.0 Appliance versions prior to build 5.36.00.16 and the corresponding Application versions prior to 5.36.00.00. This vulnerability is classified as an Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command, commonly referred to as OS Command Injection or CWE-78. The core technical issue stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization mechanisms within the application logic. When user-supplied data is processed by the system, it is concatenated directly into operating system commands without adequate filtering of special characters such as semicolons, ampersands, pipes, or backticks that allow for command chaining or substitution. This lack of proper neutralization enables an attacker to inject malicious shell commands that are executed with the privileges of the underlying application process.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant due to its potential for remote code execution at a low privilege level. An attacker who possesses local access and holds only low-privileged credentials can exploit this flaw to execute arbitrary operating system commands on the affected appliance or application host. This capability effectively bypasses standard authentication controls, allowing the adversary to escalate privileges, exfiltrate sensitive data, install persistent backdoors, or pivot further into the network infrastructure. The severity is compounded by the fact that local access is often easier to obtain than remote unauthenticated access through other vectors, making this a critical risk for environments where internal users have varying levels of system interaction rights.
From an industry standards perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-78 regarding improper neutralization in OS commands and falls under MITRE ATT&CK technique T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter, specifically within the context of local privilege escalation or lateral movement via injected scripts. The exploitation path typically involves identifying input fields that are passed to system-level utilities such as shell interpreters like /bin/sh or cmd.exe without rigorous validation against a whitelist of expected inputs.
Mitigation strategies must prioritize immediate patching by upgrading Dell SCG 5.0 Appliance versions to 5.36.00.16 or later and Application versions to 5.36.00.00 or later, as these releases contain the necessary code fixes for input sanitization. In environments where immediate patching is not feasible, administrators should implement strict network segmentation to restrict local access to only authorized personnel and enforce principle of least privilege across all user accounts interacting with the SCG interface. Additionally, deploying host-based intrusion detection systems can help monitor for anomalous command execution patterns originating from application processes, providing an additional layer of defense against exploitation attempts while remediation efforts are underway.