Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2026-53481 is a critical-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Dell Data Domain Operating System. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 36th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SC-7 (Boundary Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-42038
Vulnerability Data
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, versions 7.7.1.0 through 8.7, LTS2026 release version 8.6.1.0 through 8.6.1.10, LTS2025 release version 8.3.1.0 through 8.3.1.30, LTS2024 release versions 7.13.1.0 through 7.13.1.70 contain an improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability.…
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An unauthenticated attacker with remote access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to unauthorized access to the system. This is a critical severity vulnerability as it allows an attacker to take complete control of system; so Dell recommends customers to upgrade at the earliest opportunity.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Path traversal vulnerability in a public-facing Dell PowerProtect Data Domain appliance allows unauthenticated remote attackers to access restricted directories and achieve complete system control, directly mapping to Exploitation of Public-Facing Application (T1190).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Boundary protection at network perimeters and system interfaces directly blocks unauthenticated remote requests that attempt to traverse restricted directories in Dell PowerProtect Data Domain.
Access enforcement ensures the system validates every request against authorization rules, preventing path-traversal attempts from reaching restricted directories without proper credentials.
Input validation on path parameters can reject or sanitize traversal sequences before they are resolved, mitigating the CWE-22 flaw in the affected versions.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.
PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.
Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.
Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.
Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.