CVE-2026-24061

Exp

telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.

Published: 2026-01-21 Last update: 2026-02-11 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-24061 is rated Critical Active Threat (99.5/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 91.53%, 100th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2026-01-26) affecting GNU / InetUtils. a weakness (CWE-88) Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2026-24061

Name: GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2026-01-26

Action due: 2026-02-16

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.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2026-24061

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
52524 exploit_db edb 2026-04-29 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-24061

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-02 91.12% 91.53% +0.41%
2 2026-05-13 92.30% 91.12% -1.18%
3 2026-05-05 — 92.30% —

Full EPSS history (28 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-24061

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-24061

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-24061

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-24061 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (inetutils), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-24061
gentoo high CVE-2026-24061: 1 GLSA(s) (202601-01), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/inetutils); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2026-24061
ubuntu high CVE-2026-24061 high priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (inetutils), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 7, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-24061

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-24061

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu inetutils >= 1.9.3, <= 2.7 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-24061

URL Tags
https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/ccba9f748aa8d50a38d7748e2e60362edd6a32cc Patch
https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/fd702c02497b2f398e739e3119bed0b23dd7aa7b Patch
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-inetutils/2026-01/msg00004.html Mitigation Vendor Advisory
https://www.gnu.org/software/inetutils/ Product
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2 Mailing List
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/8 Mailing List
https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-detection-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-inetutils-package Third Party Advisory
https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-mitigation-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-inetutils-package Mitigation Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/22/1 Mailing List
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/01/msg00025.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-24061 US Government Resource
https://www.labs.greynoise.io/grimoire/2026-01-22-f-around-and-find-out-18-hours-of-unsolicited-houseguests/index.html Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2#:~:[email protected]%3A~%20USER=' Mailing List Third Party Advisory
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