CVE-2026-49980 IBM QRadar · QRadar

Detect Rclone RCD Unauthenticated Command Execution via Inline Remote Instantiation (CVE-2026-49980) in IBM QRadar

CVE-2026-49980 is a critical unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability in Rclone versions 1.46.0 through 1.74.2. When the rclone remote control daemon (rcd) is started with the --rc-serve flag, an attacker can instantiate arbitrary remotes inline via the RC API without authentication, bypassing the fix introduced for CVE-2026-41179. This allows execution of arbitrary commands on the host running rclone rcd. CVSS 9.8. PoC is publicly available.

MITRE ATT&CK

Tactic
Initial Access Execution Lateral Movement

QRadar Detection Query

IBM QRadar (QRadar)
sql 
SELECT
  DATEFORMAT(starttime, 'YYYY-MM-dd HH:mm:ss') AS event_time,
  sourceip,
  destinationip,
  destinationport,
  "processname",
  "processcmdline",
  username,
  hostname
FROM events
WHERE
  LOGSOURCETYPENAME(devicetype) IN ('Linux OS', 'Windows OS', 'Microsoft Windows Security Event Log')
  AND (
    ("processname" ILIKE '%rclone%'
     AND ("processcmdline" ILIKE '%rcd%' OR "processcmdline" ILIKE '%rc-serve%'))
    OR destinationport = 5572
  )
  AND DATEFORMAT(starttime, 'YYYY-MM-dd') >= DATEADD('day', -7, CURRENT_DATE)
ORDER BY starttime DESC
LIMIT 500
critical severity medium confidence

QRadar AQL query to surface rclone rcd process launches and inbound connections to RC API port 5572, providing visibility into CVE-2026-49980 exploitation attempts.

Data Sources

QRadar Linux OS DSMQRadar Windows OS DSMMicrosoft Windows Security Event Log DSM

Required Tables

events

False Positives & Tuning

  • Authorized rclone rcd instances in managed cloud infrastructure with enforced authentication
  • Internal monitoring tools querying rclone RC API
  • Development or staging environments running rclone in permissive configuration

Other platforms for CVE-2026-49980

Microsoft Sentinel (KQL) Splunk (SPL) Elastic Security (Elastic) Sumo Logic CSE (Sumo) Google Chronicle (YARA-L) CrowdStrike LogScale (LogScale) All platforms (combined) →

Testing Methodology

Validate this detection against 3 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.

  1. Test 1Unauthenticated rclone rcd RC API probe

    Expected signal: Process creation event for rclone with arguments including rcd and --rc-no-auth; network bind event on port 5572; outbound HTTP POST to 127.0.0.1:5572

  2. Test 2Inline remote instantiation via unauthenticated RC API

    Expected signal: HTTP POST to /config/create on port 5572; rclone process spawned with --rc-no-auth; possible rclone.conf modification event

  3. Test 3Remote command execution via rclone RC /core/command endpoint

    Expected signal: HTTP POST to /core/command; rclone process with --rc-no-auth flag in process tree; network event on port 5572 from unexpected source

Last updated: 2026-06-21 Research depth: standard
References (2)

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Tactic Hubs

TA0001Initial AccessTA0002ExecutionTA0008Lateral Movement

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Same Tactic: Initial Access

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