CVE-2026-61898 (GCVE-0-2026-61898)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-08-20 14:32 – Updated: 2026-08-26 19:50
VLAI
Title
accountsservice: shell injection via attacker-controlled ~/.pam_environment in Ubuntu language helper scripts
Summary
The Ubuntu-specific language helper scripts (save-to-pam-env, update-langlist) shipped with accountsservice before 23.13.9-8ubuntu7 treat the user-controlled LANGUAGE entry in ~/.pam_environment as trusted input. The value is interpolated unescaped into a GNU sed replacement expression, allowing an attacker to inject a sed 'e' flag and arbitrary shell commands that execute with the privileges of the AccountsService helper process (real UID 0) via the SetLanguage D-Bus method.
Severity
7.8 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
SSVC
Exploitation: none Automatable: no Technical Impact: total
CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)
Decision recorded 2026-08-26 19:43 UTC
CWE
  • CWE-78 - Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version CPE status
Canonical accountsservice Affected: 22.07.5-2ubuntu1 , < 22.07.5-2ubuntu1.6 (dpkg)
Affected: 23.13.9-2ubuntu6 , < 23.13.9-2ubuntu6.1 (dpkg)
Affected: 23.13.9-8ubuntu5 , < 23.13.9-8ubuntu5.2 (dpkg)
Affected: 23.13.9-8ubuntu6 , < 23.13.9-8ubuntu7 (dpkg)
guessed Create a notification for this product.
Credits
Deutsche Telekom Security GmbH Red Team
Show details on NVD website
To clipboard 

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Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.

Sightings

Author Source Type Date Other

Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.


Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.