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Fencer Intel
critical 9.8

CVE-2026-24061 kev in the critical feed json

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

published 9mo ago modified last mo. also EUVD-2026-3688

cvss
9.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Exploited
added 2026-01-26
epss
99.0%
EPSS 99.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 99.9%
public exploits
2
Metasploit and Exploit-DB

Summary

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

Patch / fix

cisa 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.

  • inetutils Debian 12 2:2.4-2+deb12u2
  • inetutils Debian 13 2:2.6-3+deb13u1
  • inetutils Debian 14 2:2.7-2

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-24061

  • inetutils Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 2:2.2-2ubuntu0.2
  • inetutils Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 2:2.5-3ubuntu4.1
  • inetutils Ubuntu 25.10 2:2.6-1ubuntu3.1
  • inetutils Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS 2:1.9.4-1ubuntu0.1~esm5
  • inetutils Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS 2:1.9.4-3ubuntu0.1+esm4
  • inetutils Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS 2:1.9.4-11ubuntu0.2+esm3

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-24061

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • inetutils-telnet Alpine 3.24 2.8-r0

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2026-24061

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

Is CVE-2026-24061 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

Check with Fencer

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. First public exploit (Metasploit exploit/linux/telnet/gnu_inetutils_auth_bypass)
  3. Added to CISA KEV
  4. CISA SSVC: exploitation active
  5. CISA patch deadline

Known exploited

Added
9mo ago
Patch by
2026-02-16 (8mo ago)
Ransomware
Not known
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.
Vendor, product
GNU, InetUtils
CISA name
GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Vulnerability

Ransomware

Groups reported to have exploited it in intrusions.

  • Qilin ransomware gang

reported by ctrlaltintel.com

Ransomware Vulnerability Matrix by BushidoUK (github.com/BushidoUK/Ransomware-Vulnerability-Matrix), reformatted per CVE. CC BY 4.0

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
Active, exploited in the wild
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total
Assessed
9mo ago

Exploit prediction

98.98% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99.9% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • Metasploit exploit/linux/telnet/gnu_inetutils_auth_bypass GNU Inetutils Telnet Authentication Bypass Exploit CVE-2026-24061 metasploit exploit, great rank, 2026-01-26
  • EDB-52524 GNU InetUtils 2.6 - Telnetd Remote Privilege Escalation local, 2026-04-29
  • openwall.com https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2#:~:text=root@...a%3A~%20USER=' referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • redteam.ae https://redteam.ae/blog/cve-2026-24061-inetutils-telnetd-root-bypass referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • labs.greynoise.io https://www.labs.greynoise.io/grimoire/2026-01-22-f-around-and-find-out-18-hours-of-unsolicited-houseguests/index.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • GNU Inetutils

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-88 Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a Command

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.