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.

Description quoted from the CVE record (assigned by mitre, published 2026-01-21).

Weakness: CWE-88 Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a Command (‘Argument Injection’)

How it can be exploited

Exploitable over the network with low attack complexity needing no privileges and no user interaction. Impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high. CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA assessment (SSVC): CISA assesses exploitation as active. Automatable: yes. Technical impact: total.

On CISA KEV since

2026-01-26

US federal deadline

2026-02-16

Ransomware use

Not known

Public exploit evidence (Exploit Observer)

Also known as: BDU:2026-00709, CNNVD-202601-3437, CNVD-2026-05940, EDB-52524, EUVD-2026-3688, GHSA-pf97-p8ff-fj35, SNYK-UNMANAGED-INETUTILS-15046816

VEDAS cluster: VEDAS:ARCHERALLEGIANCE

Exploit Observer links 84 pieces of public exploit code or detection modules that name this CVE or one of its aliases.

Exploit code and modules (84)

Code that names this CVE. A repository can be a working exploit, a scanner, a fake or malware; read it before running anything.

• Exploit-DB: https://www.exploit-db.com/raw/52524
• Nuclei template: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/main/code/cves/2026/CVE-2026-24061.yaml
• Code repository: https://github.com/0p5cur/cve-2026-24061-poc
• Code repository: https://github.com/0x7556/cve-2026-24061
• Code repository: https://github.com/0xblackash/cve-2026-24061
• Code repository: https://github.com/0xxyc/telnet-inetutils-auth-bypass-cve-2026-24061
• Code repository: https://github.com/akpmarcelin/cve-2026-24061-lab
• Code repository: https://github.com/alter-n0x/cve-2026-24061-poc
• Code repository: https://github.com/androidteacher/cve-2026-24061-poc-telnetd
• Code repository: https://github.com/anxs3c/cve-2026-24061-gnu-inetutils-telnetd
• Code repository: https://github.com/ashwesker/ashwesker-cve-2026-24061
• Code repository: https://github.com/balgan/cve-2026-24061
• and 72 more

Research and write-ups (8)

• Research or write-up: https://horizon3.ai/attack-research/vulnerabilities/cve-2026-24061
• Research or write-up: https://pbxscience.com/the-11-year-security-nightmare-how-cve-2026-24061-left-your-nas-wide-open
• Research or write-up: https://redteam.ae/blog/cve-2026-24061-inetutils-telnetd-root-bypass
• Research or write-up: https://socprime.com/blog/cve-2026-24061-vulnerability
• Research or write-up: https://viz.greynoise.io/tags/gnu-inetutils-telnetd-authentication-bypass-cve-2026-24061-attempt
• Research or write-up: https://www.offsec.com/blog/cve-2026-24061
• Research or write-up: https://www.picussecurity.com/resource/blog/cve-2026-24061-critical-telnetd-flaw-grants-root-access
• Research or write-up: https://www.safebreach.com/blog/safebreach-labs-root-cause-analysis-and-poc-exploit-for-cve-2026-24061

Vulnerability databases and vendor advisories (12)

Catalogue entries, not exploit evidence.

• Vulnerability database or vendor advisory: https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/enisa/EUVD-2026-3688
• Vulnerability database or vendor advisory: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-pf97-p8ff-fj35
• Vulnerability database or vendor advisory: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-24061
• Vulnerability database or vendor advisory: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/UBUNTU-CVE-2026-24061
• Vulnerability database or vendor advisory: https://security.snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-UNMANAGED-INETUTILS-15046816
• Vulnerability database or vendor advisory: https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-24061
• Vulnerability database or vendor advisory: https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-24061
• Vulnerability database or vendor advisory: https://www.cnnvd.org.cn/home/globalSearch?keyword=CNNVD-202601-3437
• Vulnerability database or vendor advisory: https://www.cnvd.org.cn/flaw/show/CNVD-2026-05940
• Vulnerability database or vendor advisory: https://www.tenable.com/cve/CVE-2026-24061
• Vulnerability database or vendor advisory: https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-detection-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-inetutils-package
• Vulnerability database or vendor advisory: https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-mitigation-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-inetutils-package

354 more references returned by Exploit Observer did not name this CVE or an alias, so they are left out.

VEDAS data as of 2026-11-01T17:12 UTC; fetched 2026-11-02.

Live scores

EPSS

0.990
very likely to be attacked soon

VEDAS

0.985
strong exploit evidence

On CISA KEV

Yes, since 2026-01-26

Detection rule

Nuclei · Suricata

Thin horizontal line: the “likely” (EPSS 0.10) or “strong” (VEDAS 0.90) threshold. Shaded “no data” areas are periods when cve-scores did not publish.

Who is affected

Version ranges exactly as the CVE record states them. “Before X” means X is the first fixed version.

Exploit Observer also maps it to: free_software_foundation,_inc. inetutils, gnu inetutils.

How to fix it

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.

Vendor guidance:

• https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/inetutils.git
• https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/ccba9f748aa8d50a38d7748e2e60362edd6a32cc
• https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/fd702c02497b2f398e739e3119bed0b23dd7aa7b
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-24061

How to detect it

Nuclei template (active check)

Telnetd - Vulnerability

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

Name and description quoted from the template, written by VEDAS.

The template sends 1 request (GET /); it decides using word matchers. Severity in the template: high. Marked as not yet verified against a live vulnerable target.

Run it against a host you own or are authorised to test:

nuclei -u https://your-host -t CVE-2026-24061.yaml

id: CVE-2026-24061

info:
  name: "Telnetd - Vulnerability"
  author: vedas-arpsyndicate
  severity: high
  description: |
    telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.
  reference:
    - https://www.exploit.observer/?keyword=CVE-2026-24061&match=exact
    - https://subdomain.center/?engine=ammonites&keyword=telnetd&match=exact
  classification:
    cve-id: CVE-2026-24061
    cwe-id: CWE-noinfo
  metadata:
    verified: false
    max-request: 1
  tags: cve,cve2025,cve2026,network,telnet,telnetd

http:
  - method: GET
    path:
      - "{{BaseURL}}/"
    matchers-condition: and
    matchers:
      - type: word
        part: body
        words:
          - "success;"

CVE-2026-24061.yaml on GitHub

Suricata rules (network detection)

1 rule that alert on traffic matching this exploit: VEDAS CVE-2026-24061 Telnetd - Vulnerability. Add them to your Suricata rule set and reload.

alert http $EXTERNAL_NET any -> $HTTP_SERVERS $HTTP_PORTS (msg:"VEDAS CVE-2026-24061 Telnetd - Vulnerability"; flow:established,to_server; http.uri; content:"/"; nocase; fast_pattern; classtype:web-application-attack; reference:cve,CVE-2026-24061; reference:url,https://www.exploit.observer/?keyword=CVE-2026-24061&match=exact; reference:url,https://subdomain.center/?engine=ammonites&keyword=telnetd&match=exact; sid:1019048; rev:1;)

CVE-2026-24061.rules on GitHub

References

Exploits and technical analysis

• https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2#:~:text=root@...a%3A~%20USER=’ (exploit)
• https://www.labs.greynoise.io/grimoire/2026-01-22-f-around-and-find-out-18-hours-of-unsolicited-houseguests/index.html (third-party-advisory)

Government sources

• https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-24061 (government-resource)

Other references

• 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-inetutils-package
• https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-mitigation-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-inetutils-package
• https://redteam.ae/blog/cve-2026-24061-inetutils-telnetd-root-bypass
• http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/22/1
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/01/msg00025.html

Other databases

• CVE record (cve.org)
• NVD
• Exploit Observer

Where this comes from

This advisory is generated automatically by VEDAS from: CVE.org record, CISA KEV, cve-scores (EPSS and VEDAS), Exploit Observer, vedas-signatures. Text in quotes is reproduced from the source; everything else is a fixed template filled with source fields. Nothing here is written by a language model. Check the vendor advisory before acting, and read how VEDAS and Exploit Observer work, and their limits.