CVE-2026-79938 in PowerProtect Cyber Recovery
Summary
by MITRE • 08/26/2026
Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery, versions prior to 20.3, contain an Improper Authentication vulnerability. A low privileged attacker with remote access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to Unauthorized access.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/26/2026
The identified security flaw resides within Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery software in versions preceding the 20.3 release and is classified as an improper authentication mechanism. This specific weakness allows a threat actor who possesses low-privileged credentials and remote network connectivity to bypass intended access controls, thereby gaining unauthorized entry into the system. The core technical deficiency lies in the application's failure to adequately verify the authenticity of user requests or session tokens during critical administrative operations. In many such implementations, authentication checks may be conditionally skipped for certain endpoints, rely on predictable token generation algorithms, or fail to enforce strict role-based access control policies when processing API calls from remote sources. This gap effectively neutralizes the security boundary that is supposed to separate low-level operational users from high-privilege administrative functions, allowing an attacker to escalate their privileges and execute commands with elevated authority without providing valid credentials for those specific actions.
From a threat modeling perspective, this vulnerability aligns directly with Common Weakness Enumeration identifier CWE-287, which describes Improper Authentication. The exploitation of this flaw enables unauthorized access that can lead to significant operational disruptions within the cyber recovery infrastructure. Since PowerProtect Cyber Recovery is designed to protect critical data against ransomware and other destructive threats by maintaining immutable backups in an isolated environment, any compromise undermines the fundamental integrity of the disaster recovery strategy. An attacker exploiting this vulnerability could potentially alter backup configurations, delete or corrupt protected datasets, exfiltrate sensitive information stored within the system, or use the compromised server as a pivot point to attack other systems on the network. The impact is severe because it compromises the trustworthiness of the data protection layer itself, leaving organizations vulnerable to both direct data loss and potential ransomware attacks that could bypass their primary defense mechanisms if the recovery environment is also tainted.
The operational risk is further compounded by the fact that remote access capabilities are often necessary for system administration but represent a high-value attack surface. If an attacker gains foothold through this authentication flaw, they may establish persistence within the network or attempt lateral movement to reach more sensitive assets such as primary production databases or domain controllers. The lack of robust multi-factor authentication enforcement in older versions exacerbates this risk, as static credentials alone are insufficient to prevent automated exploitation tools from probing and leveraging these weaknesses at scale. Furthermore, because cyber recovery systems often operate with high privileges to manage large volumes of data, the compromise of such a system can have cascading effects on business continuity planning and regulatory compliance efforts related to data integrity and availability.
To mitigate this vulnerability, organizations must prioritize immediate patching by upgrading Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery to version 20.3 or later, where these authentication checks have been hardened according to industry best practices. Until the upgrade is performed, administrators should implement strict network segmentation policies to restrict remote access to only trusted management subnets and enforce strong firewall rules that limit exposure of administrative interfaces to the public internet. Additionally, deploying a Web Application Firewall can help detect and block anomalous request patterns associated with authentication bypass attempts. It is also critical to review existing user accounts for excessive privileges, ensuring that low-privileged users do not have access to sensitive endpoints or APIs where the vulnerability exists. Regular security audits and penetration testing focused on authentication mechanisms should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in other connected systems within the data protection ecosystem.