CVE-2026-80057 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 Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key vulnerability. A low privileged attacker with local access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to information disclosure.
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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 failure in cryptographic key management practices. This vulnerability is classified as an improper use of hard-coded cryptographic keys, which aligns with CWE-798 from the Common Weakness Enumeration taxonomy. Hard-coding encryption keys directly into source code or configuration files instead of deriving them dynamically or storing them in secure hardware modules creates a significant attack surface because these secrets become static and potentially discoverable through standard reverse engineering techniques or unauthorized file access. In enterprise storage environments, such as those managed by Dell SCG appliances, the integrity and confidentiality of stored data rely heavily on robust key management protocols that ensure keys are not exposed to unintended parties.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is primarily centered around information disclosure rather than immediate system compromise or denial of service. Because the cryptographic keys used for protecting sensitive storage volumes or administrative communications are embedded within the software binary, a low-privileged attacker who has obtained local access to the appliance can potentially extract these static credentials. Once extracted, an adversary could decrypt protected data stored on the array or impersonate legitimate services by forging authenticated requests using the stolen key material. This undermines the confidentiality guarantees provided by the storage system and may lead to unauthorized exposure of proprietary business information, customer data, or other sensitive assets residing within the affected Dell SCG infrastructure.
From a threat modeling perspective, this vulnerability facilitates lateral movement and privilege escalation scenarios where an attacker with limited initial access can leverage stolen cryptographic material to bypass authentication mechanisms or decrypt isolated volumes that were previously considered secure due to encryption at rest. This aligns with ATT&CK technique T1552.004, which involves unsecured credentials such as private keys stored in configuration files. The risk is exacerbated by the fact that hard-coded keys are difficult to rotate without a full software update or patch deployment, meaning that once compromised, the exposure persists until the underlying codebase is modified and redeployed across all affected nodes in the cluster.
To mitigate this vulnerability, organizations must prioritize applying the vendor-released patches immediately for both the Appliance firmware version 5.36.00.16 and higher, as well as the Application software version 5.36.00.00 and higher. These updates are designed to replace static key storage with more secure mechanisms such as dynamic key generation or integration with external Key Management Interoperability Protocol servers. In addition to patching, administrators should enforce strict access controls on local shell access to prevent low-privileged users from inspecting system files where keys might be exposed during the transition period. Regular audits of cryptographic implementations and adherence to industry standards like NIST SP 800-57 for key management lifecycle processes are recommended to ensure that future deployments do not repeat this architectural weakness, thereby maintaining a robust security posture against information disclosure threats.