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

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-08-20 14:32 – Updated: 2026-08-20 14:32
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
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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          "platforms": [
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            "Ubuntu 26.04 LTS",
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          ],
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        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
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        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
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            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
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            "version": "3.1"
          }
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      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
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              "description": "CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command (\u0027OS Command Injection\u0027)",
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            }
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        "shortName": "canonical"
      },
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          "tags": [
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          "url": "https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/accountsservice/+bug/2157985"
        },
        {
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            "vendor-advisory"
          ],
          "url": "https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-61898"
        }
      ],
      "title": "accountsservice: shell injection via attacker-controlled ~/.pam_environment in Ubuntu language helper scripts"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "cc1ad9ee-3454-478d-9317-d3e869d708bc",
    "assignerShortName": "canonical",
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    "datePublished": "2026-08-20T14:32:59.924Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-07-11T18:43:51.251Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-08-20T14:32:59.924Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2",
  "vulnerability-lookup:meta": {
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      "date": "2026-08-24",
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      "percentile": "0.02869"
    },
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    "redhat_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "Important",
      "current_release_date": "2026-08-24T10:42:48+00:00",
      "cve": "CVE-2026-61898",
      "id": "CVE-2026-61898",
      "initial_release_date": "2026-08-20T14:32:59.924000+00:00",
      "product_status:known_not_affected": "14",
      "source": "Red Hat CSAF VEX",
      "status": "final",
      "title": "accountsservice: accountsservice: Arbitrary code execution via shell injection",
      "url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-61898.json",
      "version": "3"
    }
  }
}



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