CVE-2026-79941: Dell Secure Connect Gateway RCE Vulnerability

CVE-2026-79941 Overview

CVE-2026-79941 is a command injection vulnerability in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) 5.0. The flaw affects both the appliance and application editions of the product. Improper neutralization of special elements in command construction [CWE-77] allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to inject scripts. Dell tracked the issue under advisory DSA-2026-382 and released fixed builds in 5.36.00.16 for the appliance and 5.36.00.00 for the application.

Critical Impact

An unauthenticated network attacker can inject arbitrary commands into Dell SCG, compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the gateway.

Affected Products

• Dell Secure Connect Gateway 5.0 Appliance versions prior to 5.36.00.16
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway 5.0 Application versions prior to 5.36.00.00
• Dell Secure Connect Gateway Virtual Edition

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-09-09 - CVE-2026-79941 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
• 2026-09-09 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-79941

Vulnerability Analysis

Dell Secure Connect Gateway is a remote support and telemetry appliance that connects Dell infrastructure to Dell backend services. The product exposes network-facing interfaces for device onboarding, telemetry submission, and remote assistance workflows.

CVE-2026-79941 exists because the product fails to neutralize special characters before passing user-controlled input into a command context. An attacker can craft a request that embeds shell metacharacters or script fragments, breaking out of the intended argument boundary. The injected content then executes within the gateway process.

Because the attack path requires no authentication and no user interaction, exploitation can be automated at internet scale against exposed instances. Successful exploitation impacts all three security properties of the appliance and can serve as a pivot into the internal networks the gateway bridges.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper input neutralization when constructing a command or script invocation from remotely supplied data [CWE-77]. Dell has not published the specific parameter or endpoint in the public advisory.

Attack Vector

Exploitation occurs over the network against the SCG management or service interfaces. The attacker sends a specially crafted request containing injected command syntax. No credentials or prior foothold are required. Dell's advisory DSA-2026-382 describes the outcome as script injection leading to full compromise of the gateway.

No verified proof-of-concept exploit code is publicly available at the time of publication. Refer to the Dell Security Advisory DSA-2026-382 for vendor-supplied technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-79941

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected child processes spawned by the Dell SCG service account, particularly shells such as /bin/sh, /bin/bash, or interpreter processes like python and perl.
• Outbound network connections from the SCG appliance to unknown or non-Dell infrastructure.
• Web request logs containing shell metacharacters such as ;, |, `, $(, or URL-encoded equivalents against SCG endpoints.
• New or modified files under SCG application directories that were not deployed by the vendor installer.

Detection Strategies

• Inspect SCG access and application logs for anomalous parameter values containing command separators or script fragments.
• Baseline process trees of the SCG service and alert on deviations, especially interactive shells or reconnaissance binaries.
• Correlate inbound HTTP requests to the SCG management interface with subsequent process creation events on the host.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Forward SCG appliance system logs, web server logs, and process telemetry to a centralized SIEM for retention and correlation.
• Alert on any unauthenticated request that immediately precedes process execution on the SCG host.
• Monitor egress from the SCG appliance and restrict it to documented Dell backend endpoints.

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-79941

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade Dell SCG 5.0 Appliance to version 5.36.00.16 or later.
• Upgrade Dell SCG 5.0 Application to version 5.36.00.00 or later.
• Inventory all SCG deployments, including virtual editions, and confirm patch status against DSA-2026-382.
• Restrict network reachability of the SCG management interface to trusted administrative networks until patching is complete.

Patch Information

Dell released fixed builds under advisory DSA-2026-382. Apply the vendor-supplied update package for the deployment type (appliance or application). Full remediation details are documented in the Dell Security Update: DSA-2026-382.

Workarounds

• Place the SCG appliance behind a network segmentation boundary that blocks untrusted inbound access.
• Apply web application firewall rules to strip or reject requests containing shell metacharacters targeting SCG endpoints.
• Disable or isolate any SCG instance that cannot be patched promptly and route remote support traffic through an updated gateway.

# Configuration example: restrict inbound access to SCG management interface
# Replace <ADMIN_CIDR> with your administrative network range
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -s <ADMIN_CIDR> -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j DROP