7.8

CVE-2026-61897: canonical accountsservice Improper Check for Dropped Privileges

CVSS: 7.8v3.1HighAwaiting analysis
AliasesUBUNTU-CVE-2026-61897
Published 20-08-2026Last modified 26-08-2026
Open JSON

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-61897 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Improper Check for Dropped Privileges vulnerability in canonical accountsservice. EPSS estimates a 0.14% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 3% of scored vulnerabilities.

Overall risk
31/100
0100
Medium · default modelHow is this calculated?
CVSS score
7.8/10
010
High · v3.1 (CVE.org)
EPSS score
0.14%
0%100%
Low · +0.04 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedIn no KEV catalog
RansomwareNone recordedNo known use recorded
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 0 · Related 2
USN-8580-1USN-8580-2

Timeline

  1. 20-08-2026
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 26-08-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

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.

CVSS metrics

3 scores · 3 sources · 1 version

EPSS trend

Probability

0.14%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

3%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

+0.04 pp

From 0.10% on 19-09-2026

19-09-202619-10-2026
EPSS score
0.14%

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs

Not in any of the 3 tracked catalogs.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Canonical1 product
  • accountsservice≥ 22.07.5-2ubuntu1, < 22.07.5-2ubuntu1.6 | ≥ 23.13.9-2ubuntu6, < 23.13.9-2ubuntu6.1 | ≥ 23.13.9-8ubuntu5, < 23.13.9-8ubuntu5.2 | ≥ 23.13.9-8ubuntu6, < 23.13.9-8ubuntu7
Ubuntu1 product
  • accountsservice< 0.6.35-0ubuntu7.3+esm4 | < 0.6.40-2ubuntu11.6+esm2 | < 0.6.45-1ubuntu1.3+esm2 | < 0.6.55-0ubuntu12~20.04.7+esm1 | < 22.07.5-2ubuntu1.6 | < 23.13.9-2ubuntu6.1 | < 23.13.9-8ubuntu5.2

2 vendors · 2 products

References

5 links