CVE-2026-24061 – Critical GNU InetUtils Telnetd Remote Authentication Bypass
A critical remote authentication bypass vulnerability (CVE-2026-24061, CVSS 9.8) has been discovered in the GNU InetUtils telnetd service, affecting all versions from 1.9.3 through 2.7. The flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to instantly obtain root access on affected systems by leveraging improper handling of the USER environment variable. The issue remained undetected for nearly 11 years and is now being actively probed by malicious actors.