Description

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 Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "7.4",
  "pubDate": "2026-10-09T09:17:08.430Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-10-09T09:17:08.430Z",
  "executiveSummary": "Dell Secure Connect Gateway (SCG) Policy Manager versions prior to 5.34.00.16 are affected by an Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts vulnerability.\nThis flaw resides within the authentication logic of the Policy Manager component, allowing an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass standard rate-limiting controls.\nBy circumventing these restrictions, an attacker can conduct brute-force or credential-stuffing attacks without being throttled or blocked by the system.\nThe successful exploitation of this vulnerability results in unauthorized access to the application, potential elevation of privileges, and the bypass of critical security protection mechanisms.\nGiven the nature of the Secure Connect Gateway as a centralized management node, the compromise of the Policy Manager poses a significant risk to the integrity and confidentiality of the entire managed environment.\nExploitation requires network-level access to the target system, but does not necessitate prior authentication, making it a high-severity entry point for further lateral movement or data exfiltration.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is categorized as an Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts, which typically manifests when an application fails to implement robust account lockout policies or request throttling mechanisms during authentication sequences.\nIn Dell SCG Policy Manager versions prior to 5.34.00.16, the authentication module fails to enforce session-based or IP-based rate limiting when processing login requests.\nThe root cause lies in the application's failure to maintain a stateful counter or a temporal lockout window after repeated failed authentication attempts, allowing for an unconstrained volume of login requests.\nAn attacker can exploit this by programmatically submitting a continuous stream of authentication requests using various credential combinations. Because the system does not impose a cooldown period or block the originating request source after successive failures, the brute-force attempt remains persistent until a valid set of credentials is identified or a bypass is triggered.\nThe attack flow proceeds as follows: First, the attacker identifies the authentication endpoint of the Policy Manager. Second, the attacker initiates a high-frequency sequence of automated login requests using dictionary-based or brute-force tools. Third, because the application does not validate or throttle these requests, the attacker can iterate through an exhaustive list of potential usernames and passwords without the risk of an account lockout or IP ban. Finally, upon successfully guessing valid credentials, the attacker gains unauthorized entry.\nThis unauthorized access bypasses existing security protection mechanisms and, depending on the compromised user's permissions, may grant the attacker escalated administrative privileges. Once initial access is obtained, the attacker can leverage the Policy Manager to exert control over managed assets connected through the SCG, potentially leading to full system compromise.\nThe vulnerability is limited to the Policy Manager component, which serves as a critical interface for gateway operations. Since the component is accessible via the network, any adversary with connectivity to the management interface can execute this attack without needing to provide legitimate credentials beforehand. The impact is significant as it negates traditional account security measures such as password complexity requirements and account lockout thresholds."
}