CVE-2026-78025

Executive Summary

CVE-2026-78025 is a Missing Authentication for Critical Function (CWE-306) vulnerability in Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager versions prior to 5.34.00.16. An unauthenticated, remote attacker can reach a critical function that fails to enforce authentication, resulting in information disclosure, protection-mechanism bypass, and unauthorized access. The flaw carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (High) and affects organizations relying on SCG Policy Manager for centralized connectivity, policy, and telemetry management across Dell infrastructure.

Technical Analysis

The vulnerability class is CWE-306 — Missing Authentication for Critical Function. In this class, a functionality that is intended to be restricted to authenticated and authorized operators is exposed without any authentication check on the request path. Because the function is reachable over the network (CVSS AV:N) and requires no privileges or user interaction (PR:N / UI:N), any host that can route to the affected service can invoke it directly.

The NVD description confirms the affected component is the Policy Manager within Dell Secure Connect Gateway, versions prior to 5.34.00.16. The description does not enumerate endpoint paths, handler names, or parameter structures, so the precise invocation surface cannot be stated with certainty from the available data. What can be stated with confidence is the security-relevant behavior:

• A critical function — described by the CNA as security-relevant and access-restricted by design — omits authentication enforcement.
• The impact triad reported is information disclosure, protection-mechanism bypass, and unauthorized access. The CVSS vector (C:H/I:N/A:N) indicates the primary measurable impact is high confidentiality loss, with no integrity or availability impact modeled in the vector.
• The attack is network-reachable and low-complexity (AC:L), meaning no special conditions, race windows, or prior state are needed to trigger it.

Root-cause pattern for CWE-306 in management appliances is typically one of the following, any of which is consistent with the description: an administrative API or web route registered without the authentication middleware that protects sibling routes; a service-to-service or "health/status" endpoint deliberately left open and later extended to return sensitive data; or a trusted-network assumption where the component only verifies source subnet rather than identity. Because the vendor has not published technical detail and no public PoC exists, the exact mechanism remains unconfirmed. Analysts should treat the above as vulnerability-class context, not as confirmed implementation detail.

The absence of integrity and availability impact in the vector suggests the exposed function is primarily a read/disclosure path rather than a state-changing administrative action — though "unauthorized access" in the description indicates an attacker can reach protected functionality, which may include retrieving configuration, policy, or credential-adjacent data useful for lateral movement.

Exploitation Scenarios

No public PoC, exploit code, or Nuclei template is available for this CVE. The following chain is inferred strictly from the vulnerability class (CWE-306) and the NVD description.

1. Reconnaissance / target identification. An attacker enumerates internet-exposed or internally reachable Dell Secure Connect Gateway management interfaces. SCG deployments commonly present a management console and API surface. Identification is performed via banner/response fingerprinting, TLS certificate metadata, or known SCG console identifiers. Shodan-style queries against product or page-title strings accelerate this step for internet-facing instances.

2. Trigger of the specific flaw class. The attacker sends a request directly to the unauthenticated critical function. Because authentication is missing on that function, the request is processed without a session, token, API key, or credential of any kind. The attacker does not need to defeat a login, forge a session, or exploit a memory-safety bug. Per the CNA, no prior authentication and no user interaction are required.

3. Payload / execution method. At the vulnerability-class level, the "payload" is simply a well-formed request to the exposed function. The attacker iterates the reachable surface of the Policy Manager to identify which unauthenticated function returns sensitive content. No specific endpoint, parameter, or method name is asserted here because none is provided in the source data.

4. Post-exploitation impact. Successful invocation yields information disclosure (C:H), bypass of the intended protection mechanism (CWE-306's core defect), and unauthorized access to a restricted function. Disclosed data may include policy configuration, gateway/connectivity metadata, or other tenant/infrastructure details that enable further reconnaissance, credential harvesting, or targeted follow-on attacks against managed Dell endpoints. The CVSS vector models no direct integrity or availability impact, so the immediate goal is access and exfiltration of information rather than destructive action.

Attack prerequisites: network reachability to the SCG Policy Manager service. No credentials, no user interaction, and no special conditions.

Impact Assessment

• CVSS v3.1 base score: 7.5 (High), vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N. This exact score is authoritative for this report.
• Attack Vector (Network): exploitable across a network boundary, including potentially the internet where the management interface is exposed.
• Attack Complexity (Low): no reconnaissance-dependent preconditions or race conditions.
• Privileges Required (None): zero authentication.
• User Interaction (None): no victim action needed.
• Scope (Unchanged): impact is confined to the vulnerable component's security authority per the vector.
• Confidentiality (High): the described outcome is information disclosure.
• Integrity (None) / Availability (None): not modeled as impacted.

Business impact: SCG Policy Manager occupies a privileged position in Dell fleet management — it brokers connectivity and policy for managed infrastructure. Unauthorized access to a critical function can expose environment topology, policy definitions, and gateway configuration, eroding the trust boundary between the management plane and the managed estate. Because the component is a central control point, a single exposed instance can yield reconnaissance value against an entire fleet. Blast radius scales with how broadly SCG is deployed and whether the interface is reachable from untrusted networks.

Detection Guidance

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2026-78025 - Unauthenticated Access to Dell SCG Policy Manager Critical Function
id: 8f3c1a72-4d5e-4b91-9c2a-7e6b1f0d3a55
status: experimental
description: Detects HTTP requests reaching Dell Secure Connect Gateway Policy Manager endpoints without an authenticated session, consistent with CWE-306 missing authentication.
references:
  - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-78025
author: valtersit.com
date: 2026/01/01
logsource:
  category: webserver
detection:
  selection_target:
    cs-uri-stem|contains:
      - '/PolicyManager'
      - '/policy-manager'
      - '/scg'
      - '/api/'
  selection_noauth:
    - cs-username: ''
    - cs-username: '-'
    - cs(Cookie): ''
  condition: selection_target and selection_noauth
fields:
  - c-ip
  - cs-method
  - cs-uri-stem
  - sc-status
falsepositives:
  - Unauthenticated health/status probes from monitoring systems
  - Legitimate pre-login static asset requests
level: medium
tags:
  - attack.t1190
  - cve.2026-78025

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2026_78025_Dell_SCG_PolicyManager_Unauth
{
    meta:
        description = "Detects Dell Secure Connect Gateway Policy Manager interfaces potentially affected by CVE-2026-78025 (CWE-306 missing authentication)"
        author = "valtersit.com"
        date = "2026-01-01"
        reference = "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-78025"
        cve = "CVE-2026-78025"

    strings:
        $s1 = "Secure Connect Gateway" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "Policy Manager" ascii wide nocase
        $v1 = "5.34.00.16" ascii wide
        $api = "/api/" ascii

    condition:
        (uint16(0) == 0x5A4D or uint32(0) == 0x464C457F) and
        any of ($s*) and
        not $v1
}

Suricata IDS Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2026-78025 Dell SCG Policy Manager Unauthenticated Critical Function Access"; flow:established,to_server; http.uri; content:"/PolicyManager"; nocase; http.cookie; content:"!"; nocase; threshold:type limit, track by_src, count 5, seconds 60; reference:cve,2026-78025; reference:url,nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-78025; classtype:attempted-recon; sid:202678025; rev:1;)

Elastic Detection

sequence by source.ip with maxspan=30s
  [ network where http.request.method != null and
      http.request.uri : ("*PolicyManager*" or "*policy-manager*" or "*scg*") ]
  [ network where http.request.method != null and
      http.request.uri : ("*PolicyManager*" or "*policy-manager*" or "*scg*") and
      not http.request.headers : "*Authorization*" ]

Splunk SPL Query

index=web sourcetype=access_combined OR sourcetype=stream:http
| eval uri=coalesce(uri, cs_uri_stem, http.request.uri)
| where match(uri, "(?i)(PolicyManager|policy-manager|/scg)")
| eval has_auth=if(match(_raw, "(?i)Authorization|Cookie|session|token"), "yes", "no")
| where has_auth="no"
| stats count values(uri) as uris dc(uri) as unique_uris by src_ip
| where unique_uris > 3
| sort - count

Wazuh OSSEC Rule

<group name="web,accesslog,cve">
  <rule id="100825" level="10">
    <decoded_as>web-accesslog</decoded_as>
    <url>/PolicyManager|/policy-manager|/scg</url>
    <description>CVE-2026-78025: Possible unauthenticated access to Dell SCG Policy Manager critical function</description>
    <mitre>
      <id>T1190</id>
    </mitre>
    <group>cve_2026_78025,</group>
  </rule>
  <rule id="100826" level="12" frequency="5" timeframe="60">
    <if_matched_sid>100825</if_matched_sid>
    <same_source_ip />
    <description>CVE-2026-78025: Repeated unauthenticated requests to Dell SCG Policy Manager from same source</description>
    <group>cve_2026_78025,</group>
  </rule>
</group>

Mitigation & Patch Guidance

Patch confidence: 0/4 (UNPATCHED — no patch evidence from any tracked source). No vendor fix, workaround, or affected-version list was supplied in the provided intelligence. The only version marker available is the CNA statement that versions prior to 5.34.00.16 are affected, which implies 5.34.00.16 is the intended fixed release. This must be verified directly against Dell's official advisory before action.

1. Immediate mitigations (compensating controls):

   • Remove SCG Policy Manager from direct internet exposure. Restrict reachability to trusted management networks and require access through an authenticated jump host or VPN.
   • Enforce network segmentation and firewall rules so that only authorized administrative subnets can reach the Policy Manager service.
   • Where a reverse proxy or API gateway is available, front the Policy Manager with mandatory authentication and TLS termination, and deny requests lacking valid credentials.
   • Enable verbose access logging on the Policy Manager and its fronting proxy; alert on unauthenticated requests to critical-function paths.
   • Audit SCG deployments for unnecessary features and disable any functionality not operationally required.

2. Patch / upgrade steps:

   • Monitor Dell's advisory channel for the official Secure Connect Gateway security notice covering CVE-2026-78025.
   • Once the vendor advisory is published, validate the fixed version (expected to be 5.34.00.16 per the CNA description) and its checksums/authenticity.
   • Stage the upgrade in a non-production SCG instance, verify Policy Manager functionality, then roll to production during a maintenance window.
   • Re-scan affected hosts after upgrade to confirm the fixed build is installed.

3. Long-term hardening:

   • Adopt a policy that management-plane components are never internet-facing by default; require documented exception and compensating controls.
   • Integrate SCG into continuous vulnerability management and asset inventory so new advisories are actioned against a known deployment list.
   • Enforce authentication at the architecture layer (API gateway / reverse proxy) so that a future missing-auth defect in a single component does not directly expose a critical function.
   • Monitor Dell security advisories and CISA KEV; CVE-2026-78025 is not currently listed in CISA KEV, but status should be re-checked as exploitation intelligence emerges.

References

• NVD — CVE-2026-78025: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-78025
• CWE-306 — Missing Authentication for Critical Function: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/306.html
• Dell Security Advisories (Secure Connect Gateway): https://www.dell.com/support/security/en-us
• FIRST EPSS (not yet scored at time of writing): https://www.first.org/epss/
• CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog (CVE-2026-78025 not listed at time of writing): https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
• MITRE ATT&CK T1190 — Exploit Public-Facing Application: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1190/

No threat actor campaigns or exploit-in-the-wild evidence have been identified for CVE-2026-78025 at the time of writing. No public PoC, exploit code, or Nuclei template exists. The vulnerability is not listed in CISA KEV.