7.8High
CVE-2026-61898
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.
What this means for your business
- An attacker can use it only with access to the machine itself, with an ordinary user login, and without anyone at your company clicking anything.
- FIRST's prediction model gives it a 0.1% chance of attack attempts being seen in the next 30 days, ranking above 2% of all known flaws.
What to do
- 1Ask your IT team or provider whether any of your systems use the affected product.
- 2If you do, follow the vendor's guidance. No patch reference has been published yet.
Not sure if your company is exposed?
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Scoring
- CVSS
- 7.8 (v3.1)
- Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H- Weakness
- CWE-78
- Assigned by
- security@ubuntu.com
Dates
- Published
- 2026-08-20
- Last modified
- 2026-08-28
- Sources
- NVD