Detect GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Vulnerability (CVE-2026-24061) in IBM QRadar
CVE-2026-24061 is an argument injection vulnerability (CWE-88) in GNU InetUtils affecting utilities such as telnet, ftp, rsh, rcp, and related tools. An attacker who can control arguments passed to InetUtils binaries may inject additional command-line options, potentially enabling unauthorized network access, privilege escalation, or lateral movement. This vulnerability is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, indicating active exploitation in the wild.
MITRE ATT&CK
QRadar Detection Query
SELECT
DATEFORMAT(starttime, 'YYYY-MM-dd HH:mm:ss') AS event_time,
sourceip,
username,
"Process Name" AS process_name,
"Command" AS command_line,
QIDNAME(qid) AS event_name,
logsourcename(logsourceid) AS log_source
FROM events
WHERE
LOWER("Process Name") IN ('telnet','ftp','rsh','rcp','rlogin','tftp')
AND (
LOWER("Command") MATCHES '.*-[a-z]{1,3}=.*'
OR LOWER("Command") MATCHES '.*%0[ad].*'
OR LOWER("Command") MATCHES '.*(;\s*(bash|sh|nc|curl|wget|python|perl)).*'
OR LOWER("Command") MATCHES '.*(\\\\n|\\\\r).*'
)
AND INOFFENSE()
LAST 24 HOURSQRadar AQL query correlating process execution events for GNU InetUtils binaries with argument injection indicators including option-value injection, newline encoding, and shell command chaining.
Data Sources
Required Tables
False Positives & Tuning
- Scheduled network diagnostics that chain multiple InetUtils commands with semicolons
- Automated FTP clients passing encoded credentials or special path characters
- Security scanners that enumerate InetUtils argument handling behavior
Other platforms for CVE-2026-24061
Testing Methodology
Validate this detection against 3 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.
- Test 1InetUtils telnet argument injection via newline encoding
Expected signal: Auditd EXECVE record showing argv[1] containing a newline character followed by '-l root'; process event logs capturing the raw command-line string with embedded newline.
- Test 2InetUtils ftp option-value injection via concatenated argument
Expected signal: Process execution event showing ftp launched with argument '-o-p', captured by auditd EXECVE or EDR process telemetry.
- Test 3InetUtils rsh argument injection leading to shell spawning
Expected signal: Process launch event for rsh with semicolon-delimited command in arguments; potential child process event for shell spawned to execute 'id'; file creation event for /tmp/argus_injection_test.txt.
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