CVE-2026-61897 PUBLISHED

accountsservice: incomplete privilege drop when running Ubuntu-specific language helper scripts

Assigner: canonical
Reserved: 11.07.2026 Published: 20.08.2026 Updated: 20.08.2026

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.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS Score: 7.8

Product Status

Vendor Canonical
Product accountsservice
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 22.07.5-2ubuntu1 to 22.07.5-2ubuntu1.6 (excl.)
  • affected from 23.13.9-2ubuntu6 to 23.13.9-2ubuntu6.1 (excl.)
  • affected from 23.13.9-8ubuntu5 to 23.13.9-8ubuntu5.2 (excl.)
  • affected from 23.13.9-8ubuntu6 to 23.13.9-8ubuntu7 (excl.)

Credits

  • Deutsche Telekom Security GmbH Red Team finder

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-273: Improper Check for Dropped Privileges CWE