CVE-2026-24061
critical CISA KEVGNU InetUtils Argument Injection Vulnerability
Vendor / product: GNU — InetUtils
telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.
CVSS
9.8
9.8 (CVSS v3.1)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Severity source: NVD CVSS v3.1 (cve@mitre.org)
Timeline (UTC)
Published: 2026-01-21 07:16
Modified: 2026-09-30 11:47
NVD status: Analyzed
Last synced 1 day ago
Verified against the source API 2026-10-27 07:07 UTC
Exploitation
Listed in CISA KEV
Added 2026-01-26 · due 2026-02-16
Known ransomware use: Unknown
Required action (CISA)
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Affected products
gnu / inetutils ≥1.9.3 ≤2.7
debian / debian_linux 11.0
Weakness classification (CWE)
Source: NVD / CISA. “NVD-CWE-Other” and “NVD-CWE-noinfo” mean NVD could not assign a specific weakness.
Mitigation & advisories
Patch / mitigation: https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/ccba9f748aa8d50a38d7748e2e60362edd6a32cc
Patch / mitigation: https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/fd702c02497b2f398e739e3119bed0b23dd7aa7b
Patch / mitigation: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-inetutils/2026-01/msg00004.html
References
- https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/ccba9f748aa8d50a38d7748e2e60362edd6a32cc cve@mitre.org
- https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/fd702c02497b2f398e739e3119bed0b23dd7aa7b cve@mitre.org
- https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-inetutils/2026-01/msg00004.html cve@mitre.org
- https://redteam.ae/blog/cve-2026-24061-inetutils-telnetd-root-bypass cve@mitre.org
- https://www.gnu.org/software/inetutils/ cve@mitre.org
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2 cve@mitre.org
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/8 cve@mitre.org
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-detection-script-remote-authenticati... cve@mitre.org
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-mitigation-script-remote-authenticat... cve@mitre.org
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/22/1 af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/01/msg00025.html af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-24061 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
- https://www.labs.greynoise.io/grimoire/2026-01-22-f-around-and-find-out-18-hours-of-unsoli... 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2#:~:text=root@...a%3A~%20USER=' 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Data sources
CISA KEV — fetched 2026-10-27 06:50 UTC · record ↗
NVD CVE API 2.0 — fetched 2026-10-27 07:07 UTC · record ↗