# CVE-2026-79939: Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery symlink following vulnerability

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-79939-dell-powerprotect-cyber-recovery-symlink-following-vulnerability  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-08-26. Updated: 2026-09-25  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-79939 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5.8 · Published 2026-08-26

Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery is a backup and disaster recovery system used to protect critical business data. A local privilege escalation vulnerability allows a low-privileged attacker with system access to inject malicious scripts, potentially compromising the integrity of backup data and recovery operations. This could enable attackers to corrupt backups, escalate privileges, or establish persistence on the system.

Technologies: [Dell Powerprotect Cyber Recovery](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/powerprotect-cyber-recovery). Vendors: [Dell](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/dell).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-79939 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-79939 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-79939?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 5.8, published 26 August 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Dell Powerprotect Cyber Recovery Prior to 20.3.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-79939?** A patch was published on 2026: Fixed in version 20.3 and later Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2026-79939 attacked?** It is attacked with local access.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-79939?** Check whether you run Dell Powerprotect Cyber Recovery at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

This is a Unix symbolic link (symlink) following vulnerability in Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery versions prior to 20.3. A low-privileged local attacker with system access can exploit insecure symlink handling to achieve script injection. The vulnerability requires local access to the affected system and does not require elevated privileges to trigger. Successful exploitation allows an attacker to inject scripts into privileged processes, potentially leading to privilege escalation and full system compromise. Dell released patches in version 20.3 and later to address this issue.

## Affected products

- Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery Prior to 20.3

## Timeline

- 2026-08-26: disclosed
- 2026: patched: Fixed in version 20.3 and later

## References

- [https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000501456/dsa-2026-370-security-update-for-dell-powerprotect-cyber-recovery-multiple-third-party-component-vulnerabilities](https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000501456/dsa-2026-370-security-update-for-dell-powerprotect-cyber-recovery-multiple-third-party-component-vulnerabilities)

## Related threats

- [Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery improper authentication](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-79938-dell-powerprotect-cyber-recovery-improper-authentication)
- [Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery SQL injection](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-49809-dell-powerprotect-cyber-recovery-sql-injection)