GNU · InetUtils
CVE-2026-24061
GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Vulnerability
What it is
telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.
CISA: GNU InetUtils contains an argument injection vulnerability in telnetd that could allow for remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.
What to do
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Deadline for US federal agencies: February 16, 2026
- Added to the CISA list
- January 26, 2026
- Published
- January 21, 2026
- Severity
- Critical 9.8 CVSS 3.1
- Chance of attacks in the next 30 days (EPSS)
- 99% in the top 0.1% of all known vulnerabilities
- Weakness
- CWE-88
- More details
- NVD · CVE.org · CISA
All references (9)
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/8
- https://www.gnu.org/software/inetutils/
- https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-inetutils/2026-01/msg00004.html
- https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/fd702c02497b2f398e739e3119bed0b23dd7aa7b
- https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/ccba9f748aa8d50a38d7748e2e60362edd6a32cc
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-detection-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-in…
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-mitigation-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-i…
- https://redteam.ae/blog/cve-2026-24061-inetutils-telnetd-root-bypass
More exploited flaws from GNU
| Added | Vulnerability | Product | Severity | Attack chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2, 2025 | Bash OS Command Injection | GNU Bash | High 8.8 | 99.7% |
| Nov 21, 2023 | C Library Buffer Overflow | GNU C Library | High 7.8 | 64% |
| Jan 28, 2022 | Arbitrary Code Execution | Bourne-Again Shell (Bash) | Critical 9.8 | >99.9% |
| Jan 28, 2022 | Arbitrary Code Execution | Bourne-Again Shell (Bash) | Critical 9.8 | 99.9% |
Sources: Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (CISA, public domain), CVE records (cve.org) and EPSS (FIRST). The chance of attacks is the EPSS estimate that someone will try to exploit the flaw in the next 30 days.