Page generated: 08 Nov 2026, 07:44 UTC
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CVE-2026-24061

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

CVSS 9.8 (CRITICAL) KEV: KNOWN CATALOG

Attention and evidence

HYPE SCORE
0.0/10
REALITY · THREAT PRIORITY
9.0/10
General review priority; not probability

Evidence confidence: Exploitation recorded

Why this priority?
  • Recorded exploitation baseline: +7.00
  • Technical severity: CVSS 9.8: +1.47
  • Fresh EPSS: 98.98%: +0.49

General review priority, not probability, victim count or asset-specific risk. A range covers missing CVSS/EPSS inputs within the current evidence state.

Sources: 14 documents and public datasets.

Hype components

Headline sample (25%)
0/100
Press, 30 days (60%)
0/100
Grounded branding (15%)
0/100
HYPE TOTAL0/100

Sources and documents

watchTowr Labs
Press · 19 Mar 2026, 07:00 · A 32-Year-Old Bug Walks Into A Telnet Server (GNU inetutils Telnetd CVE-2026-32746 Pre-Auth RCE) - watchTowr Labs
The Hacker News
Press · 18 Mar 2026, 07:00 · Critical Unpatched Telnetd Flaw (CVE-2026-32746) Enables Unauthenticated Root RCE - The Hacker News
Recorded Future
Press · 24 Feb 2026, 08:00 · January 2026 CVE Landscape: 23 Critical Vulnerabilities Mark 5% Increase, APT28 Exploits Microsoft Office Zero-Day - Recorded Future
Geeky Gadgets
Press · 05 Feb 2026, 08:00 · Update Synology ASAP - CVE-2026-24061 : Fix Synology Telnet & Install the DSM Updates - Geeky Gadgets
SOC Prime
Press · 29 Jan 2026, 08:00 · CVE-2026-24061: GNU telnetd Auth Bypass to Root - SOC Prime
See all 14 source documents
Dark Reading
Press · 27 Jan 2026, 08:00 · Critical Telnet Server Flaw Exposes Forgotten Attack Surface - Dark Reading
SecurityWeek
Press · 27 Jan 2026, 08:00 · Organizations Warned of Exploited Linux Vulnerabilities - SecurityWeek
BleepingComputer
Press · 26 Jan 2026, 08:00 · Nearly 800,000 Telnet servers exposed to remote attacks - BleepingComputer
Rescana
Press · 25 Jan 2026, 08:00 · Critical GNU InetUtils telnetd Vulnerability (CVE-2026-24061) Allows Remote Root Access via Authentication Bypass - Rescana
Security Affairs
Press · 24 Jan 2026, 08:00 · 11-Year-Old critical telnetd flaw found in GNU InetUtils (CVE-2026-24061) - Security Affairs
SOC Prime
Press · 23 Jan 2026, 08:00 · CVE-2026-24061 Detection: Decade-Old Vulnerability in GNU InetUtils telnetd Enables Remote Root Access - SOC Prime
BleepingComputer
Press · 23 Jan 2026, 08:00 · Hackers exploit critical telnetd auth bypass flaw to get root - BleepingComputer
The Register
Press · 22 Jan 2026, 08:00 · Ancient telnet bug happily hands out root to attackers - The Register
The Hacker News
Press · 22 Jan 2026, 08:00 · Critical GNU InetUtils telnetd Flaw Lets Attackers Bypass Login and Gain Root Access - The Hacker News

Score evolution

● Hype   ● Reality

Earlier evidence-support scores are retained in history; this chart shows only the current priority definition.

First record: hype 0.0 · reality 9.0 (2026-11-02 15:14). The curve appears once the score changes.

Public exploit evidence

15

Public exploit entries / repo candidates

See 15 repos with metrics
RepositoryStarsForksLanguageUpdated
JayGLXR/CVE-2026-24061-POC6910Python22 Jan 2026, 14:33
0p5cur/CVE-2026-24061-POC103Python11 Aug 2026, 18:48
tc4dy/CVE-2026-24061-PoC-Exploit80Shell14 Oct 2026, 18:34
sh4den/CVE-2026-2406161Python06 Jul 2026, 08:39
madfxr/Twenty-Three-Scanner40Python31 Jan 2026, 00:49
X-croot/CVE-2026-24061_POC20Shell01 Feb 2026, 21:01
infat0x/CVE-2026-2406110C16 Oct 2026, 14:45
JakeSwiz/telnet-inetutils-auth-bypass-CVE-2026-2406110Dockerfile31 Jan 2026, 00:43
Alter-N0X/CVE-2026-24061-POC00Python24 Jan 2026, 23:27
androidteacher/CVE-2026-24061-PoC-Telnetd01Python27 Jan 2026, 15:20
harygovind/CVE-2026-2406100—06 Jul 2026, 18:03
iLokaas/CVE-2026-24061-payload00Python28 Aug 2026, 20:18
ms0x08-dev/CVE-2026-24061-POC00Python25 Jan 2026, 19:42
przemytn/CVE-2026-2406100Python18 Mar 2026, 20:01
scumfrog/cve-2026-2406100Python06 Feb 2026, 17:14
Public exploit evidence
Evidence context and dated references

Reality is general threat/review priority, combining observed exploitation, CVSS severity and fresh EPSS. Evidence confidence is separate. This is not calibrated risk, a victim count or an asset-specific assessment. A range reflects missing numeric inputs.

Evidence in context

Confidence in exploitation evidence
Exploitation recorded
Priority basis
Recorded exploitation; CVSS 9.8; EPSS 99.0%
Attention, last 30 days
0 distinct story titles; 0 press documents; 0 publisher domains.
Technical potential
network access, no prior privileges, no user interaction.
Observed activity
Exploitation recorded in CISA KEV.
Known scale
Not quantified.
Evidence confidence basis
Trusted exploitation confirmation

Score evaluated: 2026-11-05 14:00:02.329795+00:00 · EPSS snapshot: 2026-11-05T12:03:04Z

Source event timeline
Published
21 Jan 2026, 06:42
First press mention
22 Jan 2026, 08:00
Added to the CISA KEV catalog
26 Jan 2026, 00:00
Latest press mention
19 Mar 2026, 07:00
Score calculated
05 Nov 2026, 14:00
PoCs on GitHub
15 repositories