CVE-2026-61897CWE-273

CVE-2026-61897

High · published August 20, 2026

CVSS v3.1
7.8
EPSS
0%
Percentile
0.8
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

An Ubuntu-specific patch to AccountsService before 23.13.9-8ubuntu7 only partially drops privileges before launching language helper scripts. It changes the effective UID/GID to the target user but leaves the real UID as 0 (root). A shell spawned by a helper script inherits ruid=0 and may reset its effective UID to root, enabling local privilege escalation.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
7.8 · HIGH
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00097 · 0.8th percentile
Weakness
CWE-273 · Improper Check for Dropped Privileges
Published
2026-08-20T19:17Z
References (2)
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/accountsservice/+bug/2157985 · [email protected]https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-61897 · [email protected]
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 20 AUG 14:32Z
    accountsservice: incomplete privilege drop when running Ubuntu-specific language helper scripts
    cvelistv5