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NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

CVE-2026-28372: telnetd in GNU inetutils through 2.7 allows privilege escalation that can be exploited by abusing systemd service credentials support added

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 31/100)

  • Public proof-of-concept code exists (GitHub); there is no record of exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.20% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: inetutils (Debian:12) 2:2.4-2+deb12u3; inetutils (Debian:13) 2:2.6-3+deb13u2; inetutils (Debian:14) 2:2.7-3.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to inetutils (Debian:12) 2:2.4-2+deb12u3; inetutils (Debian:13) 2:2.6-3+deb13u2; inetutils (Debian:14) 2:2.7-3 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

telnetd in GNU inetutils through 2.7 allows privilege escalation that can be exploited by abusing systemd service credentials support added to the login(1) implementation of util-linux in release 2.40. This is related to client control over the CREDENTIALS_DIRECTORY environment variable, and requires an unprivileged local user to create a login.noauth file.

HighCVSS 7.8 · v3.1—Proof of concept Fix available
Published
Feb 27, 2026
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.2% · 9th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

31

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.2%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
proof of concept
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
7.8
CNA · mitre
7.4
0.4 point gap

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

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • Proof of concept exists, no weaponized module
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

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When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
gnuinetutils

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • gnu inetutilsup to 2.7 inclusive

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (mitre). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • GNU inetutils

    • up to and including 2.7affected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12inetutilsbefore 2:2.4-2+deb12u32:2.4-2+deb12u3
Debian:13inetutilsbefore 2:2.6-3+deb13u22:2.6-3+deb13u2
Debian:14inetutilsbefore 2:2.7-32:2.7-3

Same product

gnu: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2026-24061telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root" value for the USER environment variable.KEV
    99Now
  • CVE-2026-32746telnetd in GNU inetutils through 2.7 allows an out-of-bounds write in the LINEMODE SLC (Set Local Characters) suboption handler because add_
    40Plan
  • CVE-2023-40303GNU inetutils before 2.5 may allow privilege escalation because of unchecked return values of set*id() family functions in ftpd, rcp, rlogin
    31Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2021-40491Sep 2, 2021 · The ftp client in GNU Inetutils before 2.2 does not validate addresses returned by PASV/LSPV responses to make sure they match the server ad
    26Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2022-39028Aug 30, 2022 · telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.3, MIT krb5-appl through 1.0.3, and derivative works has a NULL pointer dereference via 0xff 0xf7 or 0xff
    31Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2026-32772Mar 16, 2026 · telnet in GNU inetutils through 2.7 allows servers to read arbitrary environment variables from clients via NEW_ENVIRON SEND USERVAR.
    18Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
debian:inetutils2:2.4-2+deb12u3 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

Proof of concept available

A public proof of concept or detection signature exists. Exploit knowledge is out there; don't delay patching.

Evidence

  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×3

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:02026-02-27
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:02026-02-28
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:12026-03-07

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. First PoCsame day
  2. Published
  3. TodayOct 25, 2026+241 d
EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-829 · Inclusion of Functionality from Untrusted Control Sphere

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

Show all references (7 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records