CVE-2026-79947: Dell Secure Connect Gateway RCE Vulnerability

CVE-2026-79947 Overview

Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) 5.0 contains an OS command injection vulnerability affecting Appliance versions prior to 5.36.00.16 and Application versions prior to 5.36.00.00. The flaw stems from improper neutralization of special elements passed to operating system commands. A low-privileged attacker with local access to the affected system can exploit the weakness to achieve script injection within the gateway environment. Dell published the fix under advisory DSA-2026-382.

Critical Impact
Local, low-privileged attackers can inject scripts through unsanitized OS command parameters, exposing sensitive data processed by the Secure Connect 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 SCG Virtual Edition deployments covered by DSA-2026-382

Discovery Timeline

2026-09-09 - CVE-2026-79947 published to NVD
2026-09-09 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-79947

Vulnerability Analysis

Dell Secure Connect Gateway acts as the communication bridge between customer infrastructure and Dell support back-end services. The vulnerable code paths accept input that is later concatenated into an OS command without proper neutralization of shell metacharacters. An authenticated local user can supply crafted input containing shell control characters, causing the gateway to execute attacker-controlled script fragments during command construction. The impact is scoped to confidentiality, with the CVSS vector indicating no direct integrity or availability loss.

Although the CVE record cites [CWE-89] in metadata, the vulnerability description aligns with [CWE-78] — Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command. Exploitation does not require user interaction and executes within the security scope of the gateway service account.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing sanitization of user-controllable parameters before they are passed to a shell interpreter. String concatenation into command lines, rather than parameterized execution, allows shell metacharacters such as ;, |, and backticks to break out of the intended argument context.

Attack Vector

The attack requires local access and low privileges on the SCG host. An attacker with an existing foothold, such as a compromised low-tier service account, submits crafted input to a vulnerable interface. The injected payload executes when the gateway builds and runs the underlying OS command, resulting in script injection under the gateway process context.

No public proof-of-concept exploit code is available for this vulnerability. Refer to the Dell Security Update DSA-2026-382 for vendor-provided technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-79947

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected child processes spawned by the Secure Connect Gateway service, particularly shells such as /bin/sh or /bin/bash
Command-line arguments containing shell metacharacters like ;, &&, |, or backticks originating from SCG components
Unusual outbound network connections initiated from the SCG appliance process tree

Detection Strategies

Monitor SCG application and system logs for malformed inputs and error entries referencing command execution failures
Baseline the expected process tree of the SCG service and alert on deviations, especially interpreter execution
Correlate local user sessions on the SCG host with subsequent command execution events to identify abuse of low-privileged accounts

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable file integrity monitoring on SCG configuration files and binary paths
Forward SCG audit logs to a centralized SIEM for retention and behavioral analysis
Track authentication events for local accounts on the SCG appliance and flag anomalous logins outside of change windows

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-79947

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
Audit and reduce the number of local accounts with access to the SCG host
Review recent SCG process and audit logs for evidence of prior exploitation attempts

Patch Information

Dell has released fixed builds addressing this vulnerability. Detailed remediation guidance and download links are available in the Dell Security Update DSA-2026-382 advisory. Apply the vendor-provided update through the standard SCG update workflow.

Workarounds

Restrict local login access to the SCG appliance to a minimal set of administrators
Isolate the SCG host on a dedicated management network segment to reduce lateral movement risk
Enforce multi-factor authentication on all administrative accounts that can reach the SCG host

bash

# Verify installed SCG version before and after patching
cat /opt/dell/scg/VERSION

# Restrict local shell access to the scg service account
sudo usermod -s /sbin/nologin scg

# Confirm no unexpected shells are spawned by the SCG service
ps -ef | grep -E "scg|sh|bash" | grep -v grep