Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessReach SCG Policy Manager auth endpoint
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DeliverySubmit unlimited login attempts
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ExploitBypass lockout protection via brute force
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ExecutionObtain valid credentials and elevate privileges
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ImpactGain unauthorized administrative access
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A07:2025 - Authentication Failures
ASVS 5.0
V6 - Authentication Brute-force prevention, rate limiting
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires network reachability to the Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager authentication interface on a version prior to the fixed release (vendor states 5.34.00.16; EUVD data indicates 5.36.00.16 - verify). The specific precondition is that the authentication mechanism fails to limit excessive/repeated authentication attempts, so the attacker needs no prior credentials or user interaction (PR:N/UI:N) but DOES need to conduct many authentication attempts to brute-force or bypass the protection. LIMITING factors: success depends on weak/guessable or discoverable credentials and on the attacker sustaining a high volume of attempts; SSVC rates the attack as NOT automatable, indicating it is not a single-request exploit, and deployments that place the Policy Manager behind network restrictions, a VPN, or an upstream rate-limiting proxy substantially reduce exposure. |
| Impact | Signals conflict and should be weighed carefully. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N) describes a trivially remote, unauthenticated, low-complexity flaw with total CIA impact, and SSVC rates Technical Impact as 'total' - which looks like top-tier priority on paper. However, the underlying weakness is CWE-307 (Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts), i.e. missing rate-limiting/lockout, so the '9.8 with C:H/I:H/A:H' rating assumes the attacker ultimately succeeds at brute-forcing credentials rather than achieving instant code execution - the high impact is a downstream consequence, not a single-shot compromise. Lower-level signals temper the urgency: EPSS is only 0.26% (16th percentile), SSVC marks Exploitation as 'none' and Automatable as 'no', there is no CISA KEV listing and no public exploit identified. The low EPSS and 'not automatable' SSVC rating are notably at odds with a 9.8 rating, which is consistent with a brute-force/lockout bypass that requires sustained, non-trivial effort rather than mass, drive-by exploitation. Net: treat as a genuine patch-worthy issue for an internet-facing management component, but it is a 'high-CVSS, currently-low-real-world-risk' case rather than an actively exploited emergency. Note also a version-data conflict (see confidence_notes) that should be resolved against the Dell advisory before remediation. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote, unauthenticated attacker reaches the Dell Secure Connect Gateway Policy Manager login/authentication interface over the network and, because excessive authentication attempts are not properly restricted, launches a sustained credential brute-force or guessing campaign without being locked out. Successful authentication yields unauthorized access and elevation of privileges by bypassing the intended protection mechanism. No public proof-of-concept or active exploitation has been identified, and SSVC rates the attack as not automatable, implying meaningful effort per target. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv2 – Oct 13, 2026
Weak authentication throttling in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager allows unauthenticated remote attackers to mount sustained credential-guessing attacks against the login interface, potentially leading to privilege elevation, bypass of protection mechanisms, and unauthorized access to a management platform that brokers connectivity into managed Dell infrastructure. All SCG Policy Manager builds prior to the fixed release are affected (the Dell advisory cites 5.34.00.16, while ENISA EUVD data cites 5.36.00.16 - the discrepancy should be verified against the vendor advisory before patching decisions). The flaw is rated CVSS 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N) and CWE-307, but exploitability is gated by credential strength and attempt volume: CISA's SSVC assessment rates it as not automatable and records no observed exploitation, EPSS is only 0.26% (16th percentile), and no public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis.
Earlier versions of this analysis (1)
Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager deployments running versions prior to 5.34.00.16 expose their authentication interface without restricting excessive login attempts, allowing repeated credential guessing against the login endpoint. A remote, unauthenticated attacker who can reach the Policy Manager (typically on a management or internal network rather than the public internet) can abuse this to bypass the protection mechanism and gain unauthorized access with elevated privileges, with high confidentiality and integrity impact and no availability impact. Attack success is gated by high complexity (AC:H) - it depends on guessable, weak, or default credentials or favorable timing rather than a single reliable request - and no public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis, so the flaw is a real but not confirmed-actively-exploited risk. Dell addresses this as part of DSA-2026-385, which bundles multiple vulnerabilities fixed in the 5.34.00.16 release.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: apply the Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager security update described in DSA-2026-385 (https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-ca/000503592/dsa-2026-385-security-update-for-dell-secure-connect-gateway-policy-manager-multiple-vulnerabilities); the Dell advisory gives the fixed version as 5.34.00.16 or later, while ENISA EUVD lists 5.36.00.16 or later, so confirm the currently published build in the vendor KB and deploy the newest available release rather than relying on the lower number alone. If immediate upgrade is not possible, the effective compensating control is to remove the brute-force precondition: place the Policy Manager management interface behind a VPN or an IP-allowlisted reverse proxy so only trusted administrative networks can reach authentication (trade-off: operational friction for remote admins and a single chokepoint that must itself stay patched); front the login endpoint with an upstream rate-limiting or fail2ban-style lockout layer (trade-off: it does not fix the appliance and can be bypassed if the device is reachable directly); enforce strong unique administrative passwords and multi-factor authentication, and rotate any credentials that may already be guessable (trade-off: requires MFA-capable integration and user enrollment). Because attempted exploitation is noisy, monitor and alert on high volumes of failed authentication from a single source or distributed sources, and audit for successful logins following such bursts. Note that SSVC rates the issue as not automatable with no observed exploitation, and no public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis.
Affected VersionsENISA
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Technical ContextAI · show details
The root cause is CWE-307, Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts. Dell Secure Connect Gateway Policy Manager exposes an authentication interface that does not adequately rate-limit, delay, or lock out repeated failed logins, so an attacker with network reachability can iterate credentials without the control that normally terminates brute-force or password-spraying activity. The CPE entry cpe:2.3:a:dell:secure_connect_gateway_(scg)_policy_manager:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* confirms the affected product with an unconstrained version wildcard, meaning the defect spans all builds before the fixed release rather than a single identified build. The CVSS 3.1 vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H indicates the attack is network-delivered, needs no privileges or user interaction, and - if successful - yields high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact on the appliance, consistent with a management-plane compromise where SCG acts as a trusted control point for connected Dell devices. The SSVC decision point 'Automatable: no' is significant: the attack is not a single deterministic request but depends on repeated attempts and on the targeted account using guessable or discoverable credentials, which is why the same evidence base yields a high theoretical severity but a low observed exploitation likelihood.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Remote unauthenticated network access to the auth interface (AV:N/PR:N/UI:N); missing lockout makes repeated attempts low-complexity (AC:L); successful credential compromise yields full admin access, so C/I/A:H.
Primary rating from Vendor (dell).
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
4DescriptionNVD
Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager, versions prior to 5.34.00.16, contains an Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts vulnerability. An unauthenticated attacker with remote access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to Elevation of privileges, Protection mechanism bypass, and Unauthorized access.
Executive ViewAI
Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager - the management console that brokers connectivity into managed Dell infrastructure - is affected by a critical unauthenticated remote weakness in login throttling (CVE-2026-76779, CVSS 9.8, CWE-307) across all builds prior to the vendor's fixed release. Although no public exploit code or confirmed active exploitation has been identified and the EPSS score remains under 1%, a successful credential-guessing campaign against this platform would give an attacker privileged reach into the Dell estate the gateway administers, which is why leadership should treat it as a priority patch-and-exposure-reduction item rather than a routine update.
Apply vendor patch. Until patching is complete, restrict SCG Policy Manager login access to trusted management networks, block direct internet exposure, enforce strict account lockout thresholds, enable MFA and failed-login alerting, and monitor authentication logs for sustained credential-guessing activity.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
Privilege escalation, filesystem access, and remote code execution in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager a
Authorization bypass in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager lets an authenticated, low-privileged user tamp
Improper X.509 certificate validation in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager lets an unauthenticated attack
Privilege escalation in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager allows an authenticated, network-reachable low-
Elevation of privilege in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager lets an attacker who already holds a valid lo
Improper TLS certificate validation in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager lets a man-in-the-middle who alr
Server-side request forgery in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager allows a remote attacker who already hol
Protection mechanism bypass in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager (versions below the vendor-fixed release
Cross-site request forgery in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager prior to the vendor-fixed build allows a
Local privilege escalation in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager versions prior to 5.34.00.16 lets a low-p
Unauthenticated remote attackers can reach a critical function in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager witho
Information exposure in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager affects all deployments running versions prior
EUVD-2026-95563
GHSA-2fw7-4gg3-crqx
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB