CVE-2026-61898

accountsservice: shell injection via attacker-controlled ~/.pam_environment in Ubuntu language helper scripts

Published: Aug 20, 2026Updated: Aug 28, 2026 Sources: CVE List NVDCWE-78

7.8HIGH

Description

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.

No summary for this CVE yet.

CVSS Vector Breakdown

Exploitability

AV:LAttack Vector

Local

AC:LAttack Complexity

Low

PR:LPrivileges Required

Low

UI:NUser Interaction

None

Scope

S:UScope

Unchanged

Impact

C:HConfidentiality

High

I:HIntegrity

High

A:HAvailability

High

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Weaknesses

CWE-78

Affected Products

Canonical

commercial·GBaka canonical ltd.

accountsserviceOn-prem

Operating Systems / linux-distro

Exploitability

No known exploits, KEV entries, or remediation guidance available for this vulnerability yet.

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Attack Graph

Products CVE Techniques Tactics

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MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique

Execution

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References

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/accountsservice/+bug/2157985

bugs.launchpad.net

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-61898

ubuntu.com

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Plain-language analysis

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