USN-7992-2: Inetutils vulnerability

Publication date

18 February 2026

Overview

Inetutils could allow unintended access to network services.


Packages

  • inetutils - Collection of common network programs

Details

USN-7992-1 fixed vulnerabilities in telnetd in Inetutils. This update
provides the corresponding update for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS,
and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Original advisory details:

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.

USN-7992-1 fixed vulnerabilities in telnetd in Inetutils. This update
provides the corresponding update for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS,
and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Original advisory details:

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.

Update instructions

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu Release Package Version
20.04 LTS focal inetutils-telnetd –  2:1.9.4-11ubuntu0.2+esm3  
18.04 LTS bionic inetutils-telnetd –  2:1.9.4-3ubuntu0.1+esm4  
16.04 LTS xenial inetutils-telnetd –  2:1.9.4-1ubuntu0.1~esm5  

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