Vulnerability

CVE-2026-24061

Critical· 9.8KEVEXPLOITCVSS9.8EPSS92%

.rules3/5

GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Vulnerability

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.

Threat signal

100/100

Severe

Severity

critical

CVSS

9.8

EPSS

92%

Active

KEV

CISA KEV — actively exploited

117d overdue

AffectedGNU — InetUtils

Added to KEV

2026-01-26

Federal patch due (BOD 22-01)

2026-02-16

Required action (CISA verbatim)

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Vendor advisory + references

CISA description: “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.”

CVSS

v3.1Open in FIRST calculator →

9.8/ 10CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack VectorNetworkExploitable remotely over the internet — no local access needed.
Attack ComplexityLowNo special conditions — exploit works reliably.
Privileges RequiredNoneUnauthenticated — no credentials needed.
User InteractionNoneFully automated — no victim action needed.
ScopeUnchangedImpact contained to the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality ImpactHighTotal disclosure of sensitive data.
Integrity ImpactHighTotal compromise of integrity — full data modification possible.
Availability ImpactHighTotal loss of availability — full DoS possible.

EPSS

Exploit prediction · 30-day horizonFIRST.org →

91.5%

probability of exploitation in next 30 days

p100

higher than 100% of all CVEs

3-day trend↑ 0pp

Statistically about to be weaponized — top-tier triage urgency.

Vendor VEX

No VEX statements published for CVE-2026-24061. Vendors publish VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange) to assert per-product whether a CVE is actually exploitable in their distribution.

SSVCAct

Active exploitation with total impact on essential/support systems

exploitation: active
automatable: yes
impact: total
mission: support

Lifecycle

2026-01-26Added to CISA KEVransomware: Unknown
2026-01-26Public exploit observedexploitdb, metasploit
2026-01-26Published
2026-02-16Federal patch due (BOD 22-01)
2026-06-12Last modified1 source

No source-event history recorded yet. New revisions will appear here as ingestors re-fetch this CVE.