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CVE-2026-61898

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

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: August 20, 2026 at 02:32 PM UTC
Updated: October 18, 2026 at 08:10 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorAccountsservice

Using accountsservice by Canonical?

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

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.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

Accountsservice· Canonical
90%
22.07.5-2ubuntu1 ≤ v < 22.07.5-2ubuntu1.623.13.9-2ubuntu6 ≤ v < 23.13.9-2ubuntu6.123.13.9-8ubuntu5 ≤ v < 23.13.9-8ubuntu5.223.13.9-8ubuntu6 ≤ v < 23.13.9-8ubuntu722.07.5-2ubuntu123.13.9-2ubuntu623.13.9-8ubuntu523.13.9-8ubuntu6
Affected range stops below 22.07.5-2ubuntu1.6, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 23.13.9-2ubuntu6.1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 23.13.9-8ubuntu5.2, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 23.13.9-8ubuntu7, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

Patch and advisory references

References (2)

Issue Tracking
Source: cverecord
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/accountsservice/+bug/2157985
Vendor Advisory
Source: cverecord
https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-61898

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.8HIGHcanonical
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusAWAITING ANALYSIS
CWE
CWE-78

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