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CVE-2026-54161

Full vulnerability record from the local CVENow database.

Description

Network UPS Tools is a collection of programs which provide a common interface for monitoring and administering UPS, PDU and SCD hardware. From 2.8.3 to 2.8.5, upsmon in clients/upsmon.c inserts the server-supplied ups.alarm value into shell commands executed by notify(), async_notify(), and wall(). When a monitored device reports an ALARM state and an operator has configured NOTIFYCMD with EXEC in NOTIFYFLAG ALARM, shell metacharacters in the alarm text are evaluated on POSIX or Windows and can execute arbitrary operating-system commands as the upsmon account, which is commonly root. An attacker can control the value through a malicious or compromised upsd, a man-in-the-middle on a plaintext upsd to upsmon connection, or a compromised UPS device whose driver supplies the alarm upstream of upsd; TLS between upsd and upsmon does not mitigate the compromised-device path. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.8.6.

Severity
HIGH
CVSS score
8.1 (v3.1)
Vulnerability status
Received
Source identifier
Published
2026-11-03 20:18:14.243000
Last modified
2026-11-03 20:18:14.243000
View original CVE JSON
{
  "id": "CVE-2026-54161",
  "sourceIdentifier": "[email protected]",
  "published": "2026-11-03T20:18:14.243",
  "lastModified": "2026-11-03T20:18:14.243",
  "vulnStatus": "Received",
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "Network UPS Tools is a collection of programs which provide a common interface for monitoring and administering UPS, PDU and SCD hardware. From 2.8.3 to 2.8.5, upsmon in clients/upsmon.c inserts the server-supplied ups.alarm value into shell commands executed by notify(), async_notify(), and wall(). When a monitored device reports an ALARM state and an operator has configured NOTIFYCMD with EXEC in NOTIFYFLAG ALARM, shell metacharacters in the alarm text are evaluated on POSIX or Windows and can execute arbitrary operating-system commands as the upsmon account, which is commonly root. An attacker can control the value through a malicious or compromised upsd, a man-in-the-middle on a plaintext upsd to upsmon connection, or a compromised UPS device whose driver supplies the alarm upstream of upsd; TLS between upsd and upsmon does not mitigate the compromised-device path. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.8.6."
    }
  ],
  "affected": [
    {
      "source": "[email protected]",
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "vendor": "networkupstools",
          "product": "nut",
          "versions": [
            {
              "version": ">= 2.8.3, <= 2.8.5",
              "status": "affected"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "metrics": {
    "cvssMetricV31": [
      {
        "source": "[email protected]",
        "type": "Secondary",
        "cvssData": {
          "version": "3.1",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
          "baseScore": 8.1,
          "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
          "attackVector": "NETWORK",
          "attackComplexity": "HIGH",
          "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "scope": "UNCHANGED",
          "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
          "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
          "availabilityImpact": "HIGH"
        },
        "exploitabilityScore": 2.2,
        "impactScore": 5.9
      }
    ]
  },
  "weaknesses": [
    {
      "source": "[email protected]",
      "type": "Primary",
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-78"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "references": [
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/networkupstools/nut/commit/98e073d4cc31f9c73e2fa0c2677540487d902fe7",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/networkupstools/nut/commit/dffba911504866695be698bb5ec49eac40d0f66a",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/networkupstools/nut/commit/ecf98e7542e4ae2b62b211622ee26989274b2220",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/networkupstools/nut/pull/3499",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/networkupstools/nut/security/advisories/GHSA-mjgp-j4gm-6qg5",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/07/01/10",
      "source": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"
    }
  ]
}