GLSA-202601-01 : inetutils: Remote Code Execution

#%NASL_MIN_LEVEL 80900
#
# (C) Tenable, Inc.
#
# @NOAGENT@
#
# The descriptive text and package checks in this plugin were
# extracted from Gentoo Linux Security Advisory GLSA 202601-01.
#
# The advisory text is Copyright (C) 2001-2021 Gentoo Foundation, Inc.
# and licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution / Share Alike
# license. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#

include('compat.inc');

if (description)
{
  script_id(296594);
  script_version("1.4");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_modification_date", value:"2026/02/12");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2026-24061");
  script_xref(name:"CISA-KNOWN-EXPLOITED", value:"2026/02/16");

  script_name(english:"GLSA-202601-01 : inetutils: Remote Code Execution");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value:
"");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value:
"The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-202601-01 (inetutils: Remote Code Execution)

    The telnetd server invokes /usr/bin/login (normally running as root) passing the value of the USER
    environment variable received from the client as the last parameter.

    If the client supply a carefully crafted USER environment value being the string -f root, and passes the
    telnet(1) -a or --login parameter to send this USER environment to the server, the client will be
    automatically logged in as root bypassing normal authentication processes.

    This happens because the telnetd server do not sanitize the USER environment variable before passing it on
    to login(1), and login(1) uses the -f parameter to by-pass normal authentication.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Gentoo Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version
number.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202601-01");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=969065");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:
"All inetutils users with the telnetd USE flag enabled should upgrade to the latest version:

          # emerge --sync
          # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose >=net-misc/inetutils-2.7");
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:F/RL:OF/RC:C");
  script_set_cvss3_base_vector("CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H");
  script_set_cvss3_temporal_vector("CVSS:3.0/E:F/RL:O/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cvss_score_source", value:"CVE-2026-24061");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"Exploits are available");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_available", value:"true");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_framework_core", value:"true");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"metasploit_name", value:'GNU Inetutils Telnet Authentication Bypass Exploit CVE-2026-24061');
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_framework_metasploit", value:"true");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2026/01/21");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"patch_publication_date", value:"2026/01/26");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2026/01/26");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:gentoo:linux:inetutils");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:gentoo:linux");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"generated_plugin", value:"current");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_family(english:"Gentoo Local Security Checks");

  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2026 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");

  script_dependencies("ssh_get_info.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/local_checks_enabled", "Host/Gentoo/release", "Host/Gentoo/qpkg-list");

  exit(0);
}
include('qpkg.inc');

if (!get_kb_item('Host/local_checks_enabled')) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);
if (!get_kb_item('Host/Gentoo/release')) audit(AUDIT_OS_NOT, 'Gentoo');
if (!get_kb_item('Host/Gentoo/qpkg-list')) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);

var flag = 0;

var packages = [
  {
    'name' : 'net-misc/inetutils',
    'unaffected' : make_list("ge 2.7"),
    'vulnerable' : make_list("lt 2.7")
  }
];

foreach var package( packages ) {
  if (isnull(package['unaffected'])) package['unaffected'] = make_list();
  if (isnull(package['vulnerable'])) package['vulnerable'] = make_list();
  if (qpkg_check(package: package['name'] , unaffected: package['unaffected'], vulnerable: package['vulnerable'])) flag++;
}


if (flag)
{
  security_report_v4(
    port       : 0,
    severity   : SECURITY_HOLE,
    extra      : qpkg_report_get()
  );
  exit(0);
}
else
{
  qpkg_tests = list_uniq(qpkg_tests);
  var tested = qpkg_tests_get();
  if (tested) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_AFFECTED, tested);
  else audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_NOT_INSTALLED, 'inetutils');
}