--- title: Trivial Telnet authentication bypass exposes devices to... description: A critical 11-year-old vulnerability (CVE-2026-24061) in the Telnet server allows trivial authentication bypass using a simple command: `USER='-f root' telnet... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/trivial-telnet-authentication-bypass-exposes-devices-to-complete-takeover-gs1kitxjs twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Trivial Telnet authentication bypass exposes devices to complete takeover | daily.dev og:description: A critical 11-year-old vulnerability (CVE-2026-24061) in the Telnet server allows trivial authentication bypass using a simple command: `USER='-f root' telnet... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/trivial-telnet-authentication-bypass-exposes-devices-to-complete-takeover-gs1kitxjs og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/gS1KitxJS.png og:image:alt: Trivial Telnet authentication bypass exposes devices to complete takeover og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Trivial Telnet authentication bypass exposes devices to complete takeover **[CSO Online](https://daily.dev/sources/csoonline)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A critical 11-year-old vulnerability (CVE-2026-24061) in the Telnet server allows trivial authentication bypass using a simple command: `USER='-f root' telnet -a [host_ip]`. The flaw exists in inetutils since version 1.9.3 and affects many unsupported IoT and embedded devices. Attackers can gain root access remotely or use it for local privilege escalation. Organizations should immediately patch, disable Telnet services, or restrict access via firewall rules, as exploitation attempts are already being observed in the wild. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Telnet vulnerability opens door to remote code execution as root](https://daily.dev/posts/telnet-vulnerability-opens-door-to-remote-code-execution-as-root-qqcwhyxc3) · CSO Online · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#authentication](https://daily.dev/tags/authentication), [#iot](https://daily.dev/tags/iot) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/trivial-telnet-authentication-bypass-exposes-devices-to-complete-takeover-gs1kitxjs) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Trivial Telnet authentication bypass exposes devices to complete takeover","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/trivial-telnet-authentication-bypass-exposes-devices-to-complete-takeover-gs1kitxjs","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/trivial-telnet-authentication-bypass-exposes-devices-to-complete-takeover-gs1kitxjs"},"datePublished":"2026-01-22T22:30:47.292Z","dateModified":"2026-02-27T20:43:06.997Z","description":"A critical 11-year-old vulnerability (CVE-2026-24061) in the Telnet server allows trivial authentication bypass using a simple command: `USER='-f root' telnet...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/0145996a83ef4b92f52e153758251117?_a=AQAEulh","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/0145996a83ef4b92f52e153758251117?_a=AQAEulh","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"CSO Online","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"CSO Online","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/98667e4b5cac46cf9c470819c6cf71cd","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/csoonline"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/trivial-telnet-authentication-bypass-exposes-devices-to-complete-takeover-gs1kitxjs","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"security,linux,authentication,iot","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CSO Online","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/csoonline"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Trivial Telnet authentication bypass exposes devices to complete takeover"}]} ```