# CVE-2026-80238: Privilege escalation in Secure Connect Gateway 5.0 - Appliance

> An attacker with local SSH access or container compromise can exploit an exposed Docker socket to bypass protections and gain root-level control of the host.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 7 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 8 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j888-26f8-cxxc

## What is CVE-2026-80238?

CVE-2026-80238 is a critical vulnerability in Dell Secure Connect Gateway, published on 7 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Dell SCG 5.0 Appliance versions prior to 5.36.00.16 and Dell SCG 5.0 Application versions prior to 5.36.00.00, contains an Execution with Unnecessary Privileges vulnerability. An unauthenticated attacker with local access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to Protection mechanism bypass. This vulnerability is considered critical because a low-privileged operator with SSH access to the SCG host can gain root-level access to the host without requiring a password by leveraging the exposed Docker socket. Additionally, an attacker who compromises a service running within the orchestrator container can access the same socket and escape the container boundary to obtain host-level control. Dell recommends that customers upgrade at the earliest opportunity.

Weakness: CWE-250 (Execution with Unnecessary Privileges)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-80238?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Dell Secure Connect Gateway.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-80238?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-80238 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-80238 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80238 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Dell Secure Connect Gateway

- [CVE-2026-80172](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80172/): Auth bypass in Secure Connect Gateway 5.0 - Appliance (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-61410](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-61410/): Missing authorization in Secure Connect Gateway 5.0 - Appliance (critical 9.4)
- [CVE-2026-78491](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-78491/): Security feature bypass in Secure Connect Gateway 5.0 - Appliance (high 8.2)
- [CVE-2026-79645](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-79645/): Missing authorization in Secure Connect Gateway 5.0 - Appliance (high 8.2)
- [CVE-2026-80132](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80132/): Missing authorization in Secure Connect Gateway 5.0 - Appliance (high 8.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-80238 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-80238 is a critical vulnerability in Dell Secure Connect Gateway, published on 7 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80238 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Dell Secure Connect Gateway. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80238/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80238/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-80238
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-80238
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-80238

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80238/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.