CVE-2026-21418
Published: 30 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-21418 is a high-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Dell Unity Operating Environment. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 3.7th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Flaw remediation directly addresses this CVE by applying Dell's security update to patch the OS command injection vulnerability, preventing arbitrary root command execution.
Information input validation neutralizes special elements in user inputs before passing to OS commands, comprehensively mitigating OS command injection exploits.
Least privilege restricts low-privileged local accounts from accessing vulnerable interfaces or limits damage from escalated root execution.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Local OS command injection (CWE-78) directly enables privilege escalation from low-priv user to root via arbitrary command execution.
NVD Description
Dell Unity, version(s) 5.5.2 and prior, contain(s) an Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') vulnerability. A low privileged attacker with local access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to arbitrary command execution with…
more
root privileges.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2026-21418 is an improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command, classified as an OS Command Injection vulnerability (CWE-78), affecting Dell Unity versions 5.5.2 and prior. Published on 2026-01-30, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), highlighting its potential for high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts.
A low-privileged attacker with local access to the system can exploit this vulnerability to achieve arbitrary command execution with root privileges, potentially compromising the entire storage system.
Dell advisory DSA-2026-054 provides a security update addressing this and multiple other vulnerabilities in Dell Unity, Dell UnityVSA, and Dell Unity XT. Security practitioners should consult the advisory at https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000421197/dsa-2026-054-security-update-for-dell-unity-dell-unityvsa-and-dell-unity-xt-security-update-for-multiple-vulnerabilities for patch details and mitigation guidance.
Details
- CWE(s)