Vulnerability in GNU Inetutils
CVE-2026-24061
telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.990 (99.9th percentile), scored .
Very high probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — among the top 0.1% most-likely-to-be-exploited CVEs. 100th percentile — 99.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.990 · newest: 0.990 · change: 0.000
Affected products
- GNU Inetutils — versions 1.9.3
- Debian Linux — versions 11.0
Weakness classification (CWE)
CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)
This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on . CISA KEV inclusion means CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; US federal agencies are required to remediate within a published due date.
BOD 22-01 due date: .
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 proof-of-concept exploits
References
- www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2 (Mailing List)
- www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/8 (Mailing List)
- www.gnu.org/software/inetutils/ (Product)
- lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-inetutils/2026-01/msg00004.html (Mitigation, Vendor Advisory)
- codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/fd702c02497b2f398e739e3119bed0b23dd7aa7b (Patch)
- codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/ccba9f748aa8d50a38d7748e2e60362edd6a32cc (Patch)
- www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-detection-script-remote-authentic… (Third Party Advisory)
- www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-mitigation-script-remote-authenti… (Third Party Advisory, Mitigation)
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 (Mailing List)
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-24061?
- CVE-2026-24061 is a critical-severity vulnerability in GNU Inetutils, classified under Argument Injection. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-01-21.
- How severe is CVE-2026-24061?
- Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2026-24061 known to be exploited?
- Yes. CVE-2026-24061 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2026-01-26), indicating it is being actively exploited. 81 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.