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Ubuntu 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 25.10 : Inetutils vulnerability (USN-7992-1)

critical Nessus Plugin ID 297660

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Synopsis

The remote Ubuntu host is missing a security update.

Description

The remote Ubuntu 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 25.10 host has packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the USN-7992-1 advisory.

 Kyu Neushwaistein discovered that telnetd in Inetutils incorrectly handled certain environment variables.
 A remote attacker could use this issue to bypass authentication and open a session as an administrator.

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

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Update the affected packages.

See Also

https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-7992-1

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 297660

File Name: ubuntu_USN-7992-1.nasl

Version: 1.2

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 2/3/2026

Updated: 2/4/2026

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Critical

Score: 9.2

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 10

Temporal Score: 8.3

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-24061

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.8

Temporal Score: 9.1

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:F/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:inetutils-telnetd, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:inetutils-talk, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:inetutils-inetd, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:inetutils-ftp, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:inetutils-telnet, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:inetutils-traceroute, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.10, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:inetutils-syslogd, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:inetutils-talkd, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:telnetd, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:inetutils-tools, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:telnet, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:inetutils-ping, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:inetutils-ftpd

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/Ubuntu, Host/Ubuntu/release, Host/Debian/dpkg-l

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 2/2/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 1/21/2026

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability Due Dates: 2/16/2026

Exploitable With

Core Impact

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-24061

USN: 7992-1