CVE-2026-79730 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 a Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition vulnerability. An unauthenticated attacker with remote access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to denial of service.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/09/2026
The identified security flaw resides within the Dell SCG 5.0 Appliance and Application software ecosystems, specifically affecting versions prior to 5.36.00.16 for appliances and 5.36.00.00 for applications. This vulnerability is classified as a Time-of-check Time-of-use race condition, commonly referred to as TOCTOU. In this type of concurrency bug, the system performs a security check on a resource at one point in time but utilizes that same resource at a later time without re-verifying its state or permissions. During the interval between the initial verification and the subsequent use, an attacker can manipulate the underlying conditions, effectively bypassing the intended security controls. This architectural weakness is particularly dangerous because it allows for privilege escalation or unauthorized access by exploiting the window of opportunity where the system's assumptions about resource integrity no longer hold true due to concurrent modifications.
From a technical perspective, this race condition likely involves critical administrative functions or configuration processes within the SCG management interface. When an unauthenticated attacker with remote network access interacts with these endpoints, they can inject specific sequences of requests designed to alter file permissions, environment variables, or internal state flags between the check and use phases. By carefully timing these inputs, the attacker can trick the application into executing actions under elevated privileges or accessing restricted resources that were initially validated as safe but have since been compromised by concurrent operations. This mechanism bypasses standard authentication barriers because the vulnerability exists in the logic flow rather than in a simple input validation failure, making it difficult to detect through conventional web application firewalls or basic penetration testing tools that do not simulate high-concurrency race conditions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is primarily centered around denial of service and potential unauthorized control over storage management functions. While the immediate exploitation vector described leads to a denial of service condition, which disrupts availability for legitimate users managing their data infrastructure, the underlying nature of TOCTOU flaws often presents broader risks including arbitrary code execution or complete system compromise if other related logic paths are susceptible. For organizations relying on Dell SCG appliances for critical storage operations, this means that an attacker could potentially render the management interface unusable, causing significant downtime and operational disruption. Furthermore, in more complex exploitation scenarios, the ability to manipulate state during race conditions can lead to data integrity issues or unauthorized modification of storage configurations, posing severe risks to business continuity and data security.
To mitigate this risk, organizations must immediately apply the vendor-provided patches that address these concurrency logic errors by ensuring atomic operations for critical checks and uses. It is essential to upgrade 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 to eliminate the race window. In addition to patching, administrators should enforce strict network segmentation policies to restrict remote access to the SCG management interface only from trusted IP ranges using secure protocols like HTTPS with strong authentication mechanisms where available. Implementing rate limiting and request throttling can also help mitigate the effectiveness of automated exploitation tools that rely on high-frequency concurrent requests to trigger race conditions. Continuous monitoring for anomalous patterns in API calls or administrative actions should be maintained to detect potential exploitation attempts early, ensuring rapid response before any significant impact occurs.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-367, which defines Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Conditions as a class of software weaknesses where the state of an object is checked and then used without rechecking if it has changed in between. From a tactical perspective related to adversary behavior, this exploitation technique corresponds to ATT&CK tactic T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter or potentially T1136 Create Account depending on how the race condition is leveraged for persistence or access, though primarily it represents an abuse of system logic rather than direct command execution. Understanding these mappings helps security teams prioritize remediation efforts based on industry-standard frameworks that categorize such logical flaws as high-severity issues requiring immediate attention due to their potential for bypassing fundamental security controls and causing significant operational disruption.