ZeusQA
Start free

Known exploited vulnerability

CVE-2026-24061

criticalCVSS 3.1 9.8In CISA KEVEPSS 99%Published · GNU

The short answer

CVE-2026-24061 affects GNU Inetutils and is rated critical (CVSS 9.8). CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-01-26: attackers are using it, so patch it first. The vendor has linked a patch.

What it is

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

Weakness: CWE-88.

Severity

9.8 critical

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploited (CISA KEV)

Yes, since Jan 26, 2026

Federal due date Feb 16, 2026

EPSS, next 30 days

99%

Higher than 100% of scored CVEs

How it can be exploited

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

What CISA says 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.

Affected products

Inetutils. NVD's record lists the exact affected versions.

References

Questions

Is CVE-2026-24061 being exploited?

Yes. CISA added CVE-2026-24061 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-01-26, with a federal remediation due date of 2026-02-16.

How do I fix CVE-2026-24061?

CISA's 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.

From NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS and OSV.dev, checked . Status on NVD: Analyzed. The description is NVD's text, quoted as published.

Related

Know the day a CVE lands in your code

Connect a GitHub repository and ZeusQA checks its dependencies daily, briefs each advisory and opens the fix. Three test runs free, no card.

Start freeSee how a run works