CVE-2026-28372
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)...
- Published
- Feb 27, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 7, 2026
- Assigning CNA
- mitre
- Evidence observed
- Aug 25, 2026
Primary CVSS
nvd · CVSS 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HLow · next 30 days
- Percentile
- 9.2%
- Model date
- Oct 15, 2026
EPSS is a statistical estimate, not a certainty or a measure of impact. Combine it with CVSS, KEV status, exposure and your environment.
Summary
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.
Sources
This Proof‑of‑Concept demonstrates a **Local Privilege Escalation** vulnerability in GNU inetutils `telnetd`. `telnetd` improperly passes client‑controlled environment variables to `login(1)`. By setting:
proof-of-concept scripts for 2 unauthenticated RCEs in Samba (CVE-2026-4408 & CVE-2026-4480) and local privilege escalation in TelnetD (CVE-2026-28372)
Proof-of-concept exploit for CVE-2026-28372, demonstrating local privilege escalation in GNU inetutils telnetd via environment variable injection to bypass authentication and obtain a root shell.
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