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ExploitedIn CISA KEVFix available

CVE-2026-24061

Exploitation confirmed. First attested on 2026-01-23 by CISA-ADP, CISA KEV, GCVE · kevintel, GCVE · shadowserver.

  • Published2026-01-21
  • WeaknessCWE-88

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2026-01-2107:16CVE publishedNVD
  2. 2026-01-2316:10Listed as exploited by GCVEGCVE
  3. 2026-01-2316:10Exploitation first reportedGCVE
  4. 2026-01-26Added to the CISA KEV catalogCISA KEV
  5. 2026-01-2704:55SSVC exploitation set to activeCISA-ADP
  6. 2026-04-29Exploit-DB entryExploit-DB

Versions per branch

NVD
Debian debian linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
11.0= 11.0no fix published
Gnu inetutils
BranchAffectedFixed in
2.7≥ 1.9.3, ≤ 2.7no fix published

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Products declared by the CNA1 product

As mitre, the CNA that assigned this CVE, declared them in the CVE record; versions as written.

  • GNU Inetutilsother versions: unknown
    Affected
    • ≥ 1.9.3, ≤ 2.7no fix statedcustom

Source: the CNA record (CVE Program), © The MITRE Corporation,CVE Terms of UseCVE recordupdated 2026-09-29

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • inetutilsUbuntu:Pro:20.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 2:1.9.4-11ubuntu0.2+esm3
  • inetutilsUbuntu:Pro:18.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 2:1.9.4-3ubuntu0.1+esm4
  • inetutilsUbuntu:Pro:16.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 2:1.9.4-1ubuntu0.1~esm5
  • inetutilsUbuntu:25.10all versions · fixed in 2:2.6-1ubuntu3.1
  • inetutilsUbuntu:24.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 2:2.5-3ubuntu4.1
  • inetutilsUbuntu:22.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 2:2.2-2ubuntu0.2
  • inetutilsDebian:14all versions · fixed in 2:2.7-2
  • inetutilsDebian:13all versions · fixed in 2:2.6-3+deb13u1

3 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. CISA’s 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.due 2026-02-16

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-11-01 01:02 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
EDB-52524
Exploit-DB
Proof of concept
Metasploit modules
1 moduleexploit/linux/telnet/gnu_inetutils_auth_bypassrank: greatModule metadata: Metasploit Framework, © Rapid7, Inc., BSD-3-Clause.
Metasploit Framework

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability

Date Added
2026-01-26
Patch Due Date
2026-02-16
Ransomware Use
Unknown
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.

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2026-01-21
Last Modified
2026-09-30
NVD status
Analyzed
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-pf97-p8ff-fj35

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-24061?

telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.

Is CVE-2026-24061 actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2026-24061 is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, meaning it has been confirmed as actively exploited in the wild. CISA requires federal agencies to patch by 2026-02-16.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-24061?

CVE-2026-24061 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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Sources for this record