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.

Published 20 Aug 2026, 15:17 UTC Last modified 20 Aug 2026, 15:17 UTC

7.8

CVSS 3.1 HIGH base score CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack profile

The conditions required to exploit this vulnerability and its potential impact.

Attack vector Local

Attack complexity Low

Privileges required Low

User interaction None

Scope Unchanged

Confidentiality High

Integrity High

Availability High

Exploitability1.8

Impact5.9

Affected products

Product applicability statements supplied with the NVD record.

NVD has not published structured affected-product data for this record.

Weakness classification

CWE categories help security teams group the underlying software weakness.

CWECWE-78

Source references

External advisories, patches and technical reports attached to this CVE record.

NVD National Vulnerability Database recordnvd.nist.gov 01 Technical reference security@ubuntu.com 02 Technical reference security@ubuntu.com