Executive brief
Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) is a network appliance and application used to provide secure remote access to corporate systems. Versions before 5.36.00.16 (appliance) and 5.36.00.00 (application) contain a privilege escalation flaw that allows a low-privileged local user or compromised container to gain root-level access to the host system, potentially enabling complete infrastructure compromise.
Technical details
The vulnerability is an execution with unnecessary privileges issue affecting Dell SCG 5.0 versions prior to 5.36.00.16 (appliance) and 5.36.00.00 (application). The root cause is an exposed Docker socket that allows a low-privileged operator with SSH access or a compromised service running in a container to escape container boundaries and gain host-level root access without authentication. Attack requires local access (either SSH access to the host or code execution within a container). An attacker can leverage the socket to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges. Patches are available in versions 5.36.00.16 and later.
Affected products
- Dell Secure Connect Gateway Appliance prior to 5.36.00.16
- Dell Secure Connect Gateway Application prior to 5.36.00.00
Timeline
- 2026-09-09: disclosed