CVE-2026-80054 in Secure Connect Gateway
Summary
by MITRE • 09/07/2026
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 Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource vulnerability. A low privileged attacker with local access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to unauthorized access.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/07/2026
The identified security flaw resides within Dell SCG 5.0 Appliance versions prior to 5.36.00.16 and the corresponding Application versions prior to 5.36.00.00, representing a critical misconfiguration in access control mechanisms. This vulnerability is classified as an Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource, which aligns with CWE-732 in the Common Weakness Enumeration taxonomy. The core technical issue involves insufficient validation or enforcement of file system permissions and resource ownership settings during installation or runtime configuration processes. Specifically, certain critical files or directories within the application environment are created with overly permissive access rights, such as world-writable or group-readable attributes that should be restricted to administrative accounts only. This misconfiguration allows any user account on the local operating system to read sensitive configuration data, modify executable binaries, or alter security-critical settings without requiring elevated privileges.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for organizations relying on Dell SCG 5.0 for storage management and orchestration tasks. A low-privileged attacker with local access to the appliance can exploit these weak permissions to escalate their privilege level within the system environment. By modifying critical configuration files or injecting malicious code into executable paths, an attacker could gain unauthorized administrative control over the storage infrastructure. This capability effectively bypasses the intended security boundaries of the application layer, allowing the adversary to manipulate data integrity, disrupt service availability by altering operational parameters, or exfiltrate sensitive information stored in unprotected resource locations. The risk is particularly acute in multi-tenant environments where multiple users share access to the underlying operating system hosting the SCG services.
This vulnerability maps directly to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1098, specifically Account Manipulation and Potential Privilege Escalation via Local Access, as well as CWE-269 regarding Improper Privilege Management. The exploitation path typically involves an attacker identifying world-writable directories or files associated with the SCG application binaries or configuration storage areas. Once identified, the attacker can replace legitimate scripts or modify permission settings to execute arbitrary commands under higher privilege levels during service restarts or scheduled tasks managed by the operating system scheduler. This represents a classic case of local privilege escalation through insecure default configurations rather than a complex code execution flaw in the application logic itself.
Mitigation strategies must focus on immediate remediation and long-term hardening practices. The primary recommendation is to apply the vendor-provided patch immediately, upgrading Dell SCG 5.0 Appliance versions to 5.36.00.16 or later and Application versions to 5.36.00.00 or higher, as these releases correct the permission assignments for all critical resources. In environments where immediate patching is not feasible due to operational constraints, administrators should manually audit file system permissions on directories containing SCG binaries and configuration files, ensuring that read and write access are restricted strictly to the service account and root user. Additionally implementing strict operating system-level security policies such as SELinux or AppArmor profiles can provide an additional layer of enforcement by restricting process execution paths regardless of file permission settings. Regular automated audits using tools like CIS-CAT or custom scripts checking for world-writable files in application directories should be integrated into the maintenance routine to detect similar misconfigurations early.