Privilege escalation in Pi-Hole
CVE-2026-33727
Pi-hole is a Linux network-level advertisement and Internet tracker blocking application. Version 6.4 has a local privilege-escalation vulnerability allows code execution as root from the low-privilege pihole account. Important context: the pihole account uses nologin, so this is not a direct interactive-login issue. However, nologin does not prevent code from running as UID pihole if a Pi-hole component is compromised. In that realistic post-compromise scenario, attacker-controlled content in /etc/pihole/versions is sourced by root-run Pi-hole scripts, leading to root code execution. This vulnerability is fixed in 6.4.1.
Vulnerability class: Privilege Escalation
EPSS: 0.002 (12.2th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 6.4 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
Affected products
- Pi-hole — versions >= 6.4, < 6.4.1, 6.4
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- security-advisories@github.com (x_refsource_CONFIRM, Vendor Advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-33727?
- CVE-2026-33727 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Pi-Hole, classified under Improper Privilege Management. CVSS score: 6.4/10. Published 2026-04-06.
- How severe is CVE-2026-33727?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.4 out of 10.