CVE-2026-24061
GNU Inetutils
Published 21 Jan 2026 · updated 30 Sept 2026 · Analyzed
9.8 Critical · CVSS 3.1, mitre.org
Exploited in the wild
CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 26 Jan 2026, with a remediation deadline of 16 Feb 2026 for US federal agencies.
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.
Description
telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.
References
- codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/ccba9f748aa8d50a38d7748e2e60362edd6a32cc · Patch
- codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/fd702c02497b2f398e739e3119bed0b23dd7aa7b · Patch
- lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-inetutils/2026-01/msg00004.html · Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- redteam.ae/blog/cve-2026-24061-inetutils-telnetd-root-bypass · Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- www.gnu.org/software/inetutils/ · Product
- 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.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-detection-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-inetutils-package · Third Party Advisory
- www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-mitigation-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-inetutils-package · Mitigation, Third Party Advisory
- www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/22/1 · Mailing List
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/01/msg00025.html · Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-24061 · US Government Resource
- www.labs.greynoise.io/grimoire/2026-01-22-f-around-and-find-out-18-hours-of-unsolicited-houseguests/index.html · Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2#:~:text=root@...a%3A~%20USER=' · Mailing List, Third Party Advisory