CVE-2026-24061

Exploitation

Exploited in the wild. Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-01-26. Federal remediation due 2026-02-16.

SSVC decision

• ExploitationactiveCISA reports credible evidence of active exploitation.
• AutomatableyesAn attacker can reliably automate reconnaissance through exploitation, so this scales.
• Technical ImpacttotalSuccessful exploitation gives total control of the vulnerable component.

CISA publishes the decision points, not a final SSVC decision. The decision also depends on mission and well-being impact, which is a property of your deployment rather than of the vulnerability.

EPSS probability

98.98% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days.

EPSS percentile

Equal to or higher than the score of 99.9% of scored records. A rank, not a probability.

NVD base score

9.8 (CVSS v3.x), scored by the NVD independently of the CNA.

NVD CVSS vector

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

NVD analysis status

Analyzed. NVD last modified this record on 2026-09-30.

Red Hat severity

No Red Hat rating. Red Hat rates the CVEs that affect its products.

Exploit-prediction scores from FIRST. Independent scoring and analysis status from the NVD. Vendor severity from Red Hat. Exploitation assessment and catalog membership from CISA.

Published

2026-01-21 06:42Z9 MO AGO

Last updated

2026-09-29 19:43Z29 DAYS AGO

Reserved

2026-01-21

Assigning CNA

mitre

Record state

PUBLISHED

Severity

Critical (CVSS 9.8)

CNA CVSS vector

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

Weaknesses

• CWE-88Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a Command ('Argument Injection')Base

Data version

5.2

Document digest

5effde2e9052c61c953cfd1ed2b78aa21f358e977bdeba24ec4de0598cff1960

• www.openwall.comhttps://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2
• www.openwall.comhttps://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/8
• www.gnu.orghttps://www.gnu.org/software/inetutils/
• lists.gnu.orghttps://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-inetutils/2026-01/msg00004.html
• codeberg.orghttps://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/fd702c02497b2f398e739e3119bed0b23dd7aa7b
• codeberg.orghttps://codeberg.org/inetutils/inetutils/commit/ccba9f748aa8d50a38d7748e2e60362edd6a32cc
• www.vicarius.iohttps://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-detection-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-inetutils-package
• www.vicarius.iohttps://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-24061-mitigation-script-remote-authentication-bypass-in-gnu-inetutils-package
• redteam.aehttps://redteam.ae/blog/cve-2026-24061-inetutils-telnetd-root-bypass
• www.openwall.comhttps://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/20/2#:~:text=root@...a%3A~%20USER='exploit
• www.labs.greynoise.iohttps://www.labs.greynoise.io/grimoire/2026-01-22-f-around-and-find-out-18-hours-of-unsolicited-houseguests/index.htmlthird-party-advisory
• www.cisa.govhttps://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-24061government-resource
• www.openwall.comhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/22/1
• lists.debian.orghttps://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/01/msg00025.html