CVE-2026-91909 in OpenManage Enterprise
Summary
by MITRE • 11/02/2026
Dell OpenManage Enterprise, versions prior to 4.8.0, contains an Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a Command ('Argument Injection') vulnerability. A low privileged attacker with adjacent network access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to Command execution.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/02/2026
The vulnerability identified as CWE-77, commonly referred to as improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command or argument injection, affects Dell OpenManage Enterprise versions prior to 4.8.0. This security flaw arises from a failure within the application logic to properly sanitize user-supplied input before it is incorporated into operating system commands. In this specific context, the software does not adequately escape or validate special characters that hold significance for command interpreters, such as semicolons, pipes, ampersands, or backticks. This lack of rigorous input validation allows an attacker who has gained access to the application interface with low privileges to inject malicious sequences into arguments passed by the system. The core technical deficiency lies in the absence of strict allow-listing or robust escaping mechanisms for command-line parameters, which is a critical requirement when interfacing between web applications and underlying operating systems.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses a severe risk because it enables remote code execution without requiring administrative credentials initially. An attacker with adjacent network access can leverage their existing low-privileged account to craft specific HTTP requests containing malicious payloads within the argument fields of API calls or form submissions directed at the OpenManage Enterprise server. Once these crafted inputs are processed by the vulnerable backend, they bypass security checks and are executed directly by the operating system shell running under the context of the application service. This effectively elevates the attacker's privileges from a standard user to that of the service account, which typically possesses significant permissions on the host machine hosting Dell OpenManage Enterprise.
The impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple command execution. By achieving arbitrary code execution, an adversary can compromise the integrity and confidentiality of the management infrastructure. They may install backdoors, exfiltrate sensitive inventory data from managed devices, or pivot further into the internal network using the compromised server as a foothold. This aligns with several tactics in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, specifically Command and Scripting Interpreter for executing commands via shell metacharacters, and Privilege Escalation to gain higher-level access. The ability to execute system commands means that an attacker could potentially modify configuration files, disrupt management services, or use the server as a launchpad for lateral movement against other critical assets within the data center environment.
Mitigation strategies must focus on immediate remediation through software updates and long-term architectural improvements. The primary defense is to upgrade Dell OpenManage Enterprise to version 4.8.0 or later, where this specific argument injection flaw has been addressed by implementing proper input validation and output encoding techniques. For environments where patching cannot be performed immediately, network segmentation should be enforced to restrict access to the management interface strictly to authorized administrative subnets. Additionally, deploying a Web Application Firewall with rulesets designed to detect common command injection patterns can provide an additional layer of defense. Developers must also adhere to secure coding standards that mandate parameterized queries and strict type checking for all inputs interacting with system processes to prevent similar vulnerabilities in future iterations.