CVE-2026-24061
GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Vulnerability
Does this matter?
Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 16 February 2026). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.
Description
telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.
- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 97.99% probability · 100th percentile
- CISA KEV
- Listed 26 January 2026 · due 16 February 2026
- Weakness
- CWE-88
- Affected
- gnu/inetutils · debian/debian linux
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
CISA notes
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. 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
References
- https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/ccba9f748aa8d50a38d7748e2e60362edd6a32ccPatch
- https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/fd702c02497b2f398e739e3119bed0b23dd7aa7bPatch
- https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-inetutils/2026-01/msg00004.htmlMitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://www.gnu.org/software/inetutils/Product
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2Mailing List
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/8Mailing List
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-detection-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-inetutils-packageThird Party Advisory
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-mitigation-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-inetutils-packageMitigation, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/22/1Mailing List
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/01/msg00025.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-24061US Government Resource
- https://www.labs.greynoise.io/grimoire/2026-01-22-f-around-and-find-out-18-hours-of-unsolicited-houseguests/index.htmlExploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2#:~:text=root@...a%3A~%20USER='Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.