CVE-2026-24061 KEV EXPLOIT
9.8
CRITICAL · CVSS 3.1 · EPSS 99% (pctl 100)
Patch first
On CISA KEV — known exploited in the wild, due 2026-02-16.
Description
telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.
Scoring
| CVSS | 9.8 (CRITICAL, v3.1) |
|---|---|
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| EPSS | 98.98% — more likely to be exploited than 100% of all CVEs |
| Weakness | CWE-88 |
| On CISA KEV | yes — remediate by 2026-02-16 |
| Public exploit | yes |
| Published | 2026-01-21 |
| Last modified | 2026-06-17 |
CISA KEV
| Name | GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Vulnerability |
|---|---|
| Added | 2026-01-26 |
| Due | 2026-02-16 |
| Vendor / product | GNU / InetUtils |
| Ransomware use | none reported |
Affected (2)
| Vendor | Product |
|---|---|
| debian | debian linux |
| gnu | inetutils |
Public exploits
| Source | Title | Date |
|---|---|---|
| exploit-db | GNU InetUtils 2.6 - Telnetd Remote Privilege Escalation | 2026-04-29 |
References
- https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/ccba9f748aa8d50a38d7748e2e60362edd6a32cc
- https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/fd702c02497b2f398e739e3119bed0b23dd7aa7b
- https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-inetutils/2026-01/msg00004.html
- https://www.gnu.org/software/inetutils/
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/8
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-detection-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-inetutils-package
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-mitigation-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-inetutils-package
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/22/1
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/01/msg00025.html
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-24061
- https://www.labs.greynoise.io/grimoire/2026-01-22-f-around-and-find-out-18-hours-of-unsolicited-houseguests/index.html
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2#:~:text=root@...a%3A~%20USER='
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