Arbitrary Argument Injection Affecting inetutils package, versions <2:2.7-2
Threat Intelligence
Snyk has reported that there have been attempts or successful attacks targeting this vulnerability.
The probability is the direct output of the EPSS model, and conveys an overall sense of the threat of exploitation in the wild. The percentile measures the EPSS probability relative to all known EPSS scores. Note: This data is updated daily, relying on the latest available EPSS model version. Check out the EPSS documentation for more details.
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Test your applications- Snyk IDSNYK-DEBIANUNSTABLE-INETUTILS-15050511
- published22 Jan 2026
- disclosed21 Jan 2026
Introduced: 21 Jan 2026
CVE-2026-24061 (opens in a new tab)How to fix?
Upgrade Debian:unstable inetutils to version 2:2.7-2 or higher.
NVD Description
Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream inetutils package and not the inetutils package as distributed by Debian.
See How to fix? for Debian:unstable relevant fixed versions and status.
telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.
References
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-24061
- https://www.gnu.org/software/inetutils/
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/8
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/22/1
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/01/msg00025.html
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-24061
- https://www.labs.greynoise.io/grimoire/2026-01-22-f-around-and-find-out-18-hours-of-unsolicited-houseguests/index.html
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2#:
:text=root@...a%3A%20USER=' - https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/ccba9f748aa8d50a38d7748e2e60362edd6a32cc
- https://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/fd702c02497b2f398e739e3119bed0b23dd7aa7b
- https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-inetutils/2026-01/msg00004.html
- 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://github.com/leonjza/inetutils-telnetd-auth-bypass
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
- https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/code/cves/2026/CVE-2026-24061.yaml
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/52524