Skip to content
Critical Authentication Bypass Vulnerability in telnetd Disclosed

Critical Authentication Bypass Vulnerability in telnetd Disclosed

First seen 22 Jan 2026, 21:42 UTC

Article Content

Browse articles
ThreatCluster AI
ThreatCluster March 12, 2026 at 13:27 UTC

A critical vulnerability in the GNU InetUtils telnet daemon (telnetd), tracked as CVE-2026-24061, allows attackers to bypass authentication and gain root access. Disclosed on January 20, 2026, the flaw has existed for nearly 11 years and was introduced in a May 2015 update. Users still running telnetd are advised to patch immediately as attacks are already underway.

Start a free Starter trial for enhanced analysis

Ask AI about this cluster

Updated 182d ago How this analysis works

Timeline

2026-01-20
Vulnerability disclosed and tracked as CVE-2026-24061
2026-01-20
Exploit attempts observed from 15 unique IPs
2015-05
Vulnerability introduced in a telnetd update

More articles in this cluster (13)

Following this threat?

Track CVE-2026-24061 in your own feed — you're alerted when they show up in new reporting, leak sites or exploitation.

Free account · no card needed