Vulnerability Details CVE-2026-24061
telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.
Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score
EPSS Score 0.753
EPSS Ranking 98.9%
CVSS Severity
CVSS v3 Score 9.8
Proposed Action
GNU InetUtils contains an argument injection vulnerability in telnetd that could allow for remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.
Ransomware Campaign
Unknown
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='
Products affected by CVE-2026-24061
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cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:1.9.3
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cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:1.9.4
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cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:2.0
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cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:2.1
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cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:2.2
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cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:2.3
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cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:2.4
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cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:2.5
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cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:2.6
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cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:2.7
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cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0