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| Vulnerability ID | VCID-bn6y-snuj-gbdy |
| Aliases |
CVE-2026-24061
|
| Summary | A vulnerability has been discovered in the telnetd module of inetutils, which allows remote code execution as root. |
| Status | Published |
| Exploitability | 2.0 |
| Weighted Severity | 8.8 |
| Risk | 10.0 |
| Affected and Fixed Packages | Package Details |
| Data source | Metasploit |
|---|---|
| Description | The telnetd service from GNU InetUtils is vulnerable to authentication-bypass, tracked as CVE-2026-24061, in versions up to version 2.7. During Telnet authentication the SB byte can be sent to indicate sub-negotiation which allows for the exchange of sub-option parameters after both parties have agreed to enable a specific functional option. Environment variables can be sent as sub-options and it's the USER environment variable which introduces the authentication bypass in this scenario. When the USER environment variable gets sent to the GNU inetutils telnetd service during authentication, the variable gets appended without proper sanitization to an execv call to the /usr/bin/login binary. The login binary has a -f flag which skips authentication for a specific user. So the exploit sets the `USER` environment variable to -f root and the telnetd service responds with a root shell. |
| Note | Reliability: - unreliable-session Stability: - crash-safe SideEffects: [] |
| Ransomware campaign use | Unknown |
| Source publication date | Jan. 26, 2026 |
| Platform | Linux,Unix |
| Source URL | https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/tree/master/modules/exploits/linux/telnet/gnu_inetutils_auth_bypass.rb |
| Data source | KEV |
|---|---|
| Date added | Jan. 26, 2026 |
| Description | 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. |
| Required action | Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. |
| Due date | Feb. 16, 2026 |
| Note | This vulnerability could affect an open-source component, third-party library, protocol, or proprietary implementation that could be used by different products. For more information, please see: https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/inetutils.git ; https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/ccba9f748aa8d50a38d7748e2e60362edd6a32cc; https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/fd702c02497b2f398e739e3119bed0b23dd7aa7b ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-24061 |
| Ransomware campaign use | Unknown |
| Attack Vector (AV) | Attack Complexity (AC) | Privileges Required (PR) | User Interaction (UI) | Scope (S) | Confidentiality Impact (C) | Integrity Impact (I) | Availability Impact (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
network adjacent_network local physical |
low high |
none low high |
none required |
unchanged changed |
high low none |
high low none |
high low none |
| Attack Vector (AV) | Attack Complexity (AC) | Privileges Required (PR) | User Interaction (UI) | Scope (S) | Confidentiality Impact (C) | Integrity Impact (I) | Availability Impact (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
network adjacent_network local physical |
low high |
none low high |
none required |
unchanged changed |
high low none |
high low none |
high low none |
| Attack Vector (AV) | Attack Complexity (AC) | Privileges Required (PR) | User Interaction (UI) | Scope (S) | Confidentiality Impact (C) | Integrity Impact (I) | Availability Impact (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
network adjacent_network local physical |
low high |
none low high |
none required |
unchanged changed |
high low none |
high low none |
high low none |
| Attack Vector (AV) | Attack Complexity (AC) | Privileges Required (PR) | User Interaction (UI) | Scope (S) | Confidentiality Impact (C) | Integrity Impact (I) | Availability Impact (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
network adjacent_network local physical |
low high |
none low high |
none required |
unchanged changed |
high low none |
high low none |
high low none |
| Attack Vector (AV) | Attack Complexity (AC) | Privileges Required (PR) | User Interaction (UI) | Scope (S) | Confidentiality Impact (C) | Integrity Impact (I) | Availability Impact (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
network adjacent_network local physical |
low high |
none low high |
none required |
unchanged changed |
high low none |
high low none |
high low none |
| Attack Vector (AV) | Attack Complexity (AC) | Privileges Required (PR) | User Interaction (UI) | Scope (S) | Confidentiality Impact (C) | Integrity Impact (I) | Availability Impact (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
network adjacent_network local physical |
low high |
none low high |
none required |
unchanged changed |
high low none |
high low none |
high low none |
| Attack Vector (AV) | Attack Complexity (AC) | Privileges Required (PR) | User Interaction (UI) | Scope (S) | Confidentiality Impact (C) | Integrity Impact (I) | Availability Impact (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
network adjacent_network local physical |
low high |
none low high |
none required |
unchanged changed |
high low none |
high low none |
high low none |
| Attack Vector (AV) | Attack Complexity (AC) | Privileges Required (PR) | User Interaction (UI) | Scope (S) | Confidentiality Impact (C) | Integrity Impact (I) | Availability Impact (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
network adjacent_network local physical |
low high |
none low high |
none required |
unchanged changed |
high low none |
high low none |
high low none |
| Percentile | 0.99431 |
| EPSS Score | 0.87007 |
| Published At | April 2, 2026, 12:55 p.m. |
| Date | Actor | Action | Source | VulnerableCode Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-01T13:04:39.516026+00:00 | Gentoo Importer | Import | https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202601-01 | 38.0.0 |