MSRXVulnerabilities / CVE-2026-24061
CVE-2026-24061
Published 2026-01-21 · Analyzed
CVE-2026-24061
GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Vulnerability
Exploited in the wild: CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-01-26, with a fix-by date of 2026-02-16. Patch it first.
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
9.8 CRITICAL
CVSS 3.1 · CNA · mitre.org
CVSS 3.1 · CNA · mitre.org
99%
chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS; in the top 1% of all CVEs)
chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS; in the top 1% of all CVEs)
telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.
Scores
Affected products
- gnu inetutils: ≥ 1.9.3, ≤ 2.7
- debian debian linux: 11.0
Weakness: CWE-88
14 references (advisories, patches, write-ups)
- 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://redteam.ae/blog/cve-2026-24061-inetutils-telnetd-root-bypass · Exploit, Third Party 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#:~:text=root@...a%3A~%20USER=' · Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
Sources: NVD, CVE.org, OSV.dev, FIRST EPSS. Missing ones did not answer or have no record yet.