CriticalCVE-2026-102490

    Local privilege escalation in Zammad v1.5.0 to v7.2.2 installed via DEB or RPM package (CVE-2026-102490)

    Published Last modified In CISA KEV since Sources: pwn.watch, CVE.org, BSI

    What is affected, what to do

    Zammad packages built with packager.io (DEB and RPM) could have allowed a local attacker who already had file system write privileges as the unprivileged zammad service account to escalate to full root privileges on the host. Service processes began running as root and executed files that were owned and writable by the zammad account before dropping their identity to that account.

    The vulnerability is being actively exploited; treat it as a priority. Update Zammad to version 7.2.2. Immediate actions, mitigation and detection rules are in the runbook below.

    Affected
    • Zammad lt 1.5.0..7.2.2
    Fixed in
    • Zammad 7.2.2

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    8.5

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v4

    7.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: pwn.watch, CVE.org, BSI

    10.9 %

    EPSS score

    Elevated — model estimates 10-50% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 95.9

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Critical
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    246.03 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    actively exploitedSource: VulnCheck KEV (opens in a new tab) How we classify
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    8.5 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    7.8
    CVSS v4

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    8.5
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    10.9 %
    Elevated — model estimates 10-50% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    95.9
    Critical — this CVE ranks in the top fifth of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 80%).
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited
    Published
    In CISA KEV since

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    CISA assessment (SSVC)
    Exploitation: active · not automatable · Technical impact: total
    Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 2 October 2026
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-269

    Response and mitigation

    Why act now?

    Prioritisation rationale

    This CVE is on KEV because, chained with CVE-2026-102489, it completes the path from a compromised service account to full root on the host. On its own it is a local, low-privilege bug, but it has full confidentiality, integrity and availability impact and needs no administrator interaction to trigger. Modelled exploitation likelihood is moderate and CISA does not flag ransomware use, so actual urgency depends on exposure. An internet-facing, package-installed Zammad handling customer or citizen tickets (personal data plus mailbox credentials) should be treated as critical and patched together with CVE-2026-102489. Internal-only instances and container deployments can be scheduled with lower priority.

    1. Runbook step 1

      Immediate response (0-24 h)

      • Determine install method: Inventory every Zammad host and confirm whether it was installed from the packager.io DEB/RPM packages, e.g. dpkg -l zammad or rpm -q zammad. Only packaged installs are affected; source and official container installs are not. Every released packaged version is in scope, including the listed 7.2.2.
      • Apply the vendor update: A patch is available from the vendor. Look up the fixed version in the Zammad security advisory. After updating, verify that files under the install path (typically /opt/zammad for packager.io) are root-owned and no longer writable by the zammad account.
      • Remediate the chain partner CVE-2026-102489 in parallel: This bug requires write access as zammad. Close CVE-2026-102489 at the same priority so the attacker has no foothold to start from.
      • Assume compromise before patching: Escalation takes seconds via automatic service restarts, so treat any exposed host as potentially rooted. Check for new SUID binaries and for changes to /root/.ssh/authorized_keys, /etc/sudoers*, systemd units, cron jobs and local accounts. If anything turns up, isolate the host and rebuild it rather than just patching.
      • Rotate secrets: On any suspicion of compromise, rotate the DB credentials, IMAP/SMTP mailbox passwords, API tokens, LDAP/SSO bind credentials and Elasticsearch credentials stored in the Zammad config.

    2. Runbook step 2

      Mitigation layers

      • File permissions: Until patched, chown everything that root-started services execute to root:root and make it non-writable for zammad. This covers start scripts, binstubs and wrappers under /opt/zammad/bin and similar paths. Keep write access only where it is functionally needed, such as log, tmp and storage directories.
      • systemd hardening: Use drop-ins (systemctl edit zammad-*) so services start directly as User=zammad/Group=zammad instead of starting as root and dropping privileges later. Add NoNewPrivileges=yes, ProtectSystem=strict with explicit ReadWritePaths=, and PrivateTmp=yes. Validate on a staging box first.
      • High-risk stopgap: Temporarily soften the Restart= behaviour, or alert on every restart, so an escalation cannot complete silently within seconds. Weigh this against availability requirements.
      • Network segmentation: Place Zammad hosts in a dedicated application or DMZ zone. Restrict egress to mail, DB, Elasticsearch and package repositories to hamper reverse shells and exfiltration after a root takeover. Allow admin SSH only via a jump host.
      • Least privilege: Remove any interactive shell from zammad (usermod -s /usr/sbin/nologin zammad, if operationally feasible) and strip any sudo rights from the service account.
      • Migrate to containers: In the medium term, evaluate moving to the official container images, which the advisory states are not affected.

    3. Runbook step 3

      Detection rules

      • auditd, writes to root-executed files: -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S open,openat,rename,unlink -F dir=/opt/zammad/bin -F perm=wa -F uid=zammad -k zammad_privesc. Any hit outside a package update window is highly suspicious.
      • auditd/EDR, root executing zammad-owned files: -a always,exit -F arch=b64 -S execve -F euid=0 -F dir=/opt/zammad -k zammad_root_exec. Correlate these events with earlier zammad_privesc writes on the same path. SPL sketch: index=linux key=zammad_root_exec | join path [search key=zammad_privesc].
      • EDR process ancestry: Look for chains like systemd → (zammad service, uid 0) → sh/bash/python/perl/curl/wget/nc, and for uid-0 processes whose image file is owned by zammad. Sigma shape: ParentImage|contains: '/opt/zammad/' AND User: root AND Image|endswith: ['/bash','/sh','/nc','/curl'].
      • Post-escalation persistence: Watch for new SUID files (find / -xdev -perm -4000 -newer /etc/zammad 2>/dev/null, diffed against a baseline). Put auditd -p wa watches on /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/sudoers*, /root/.ssh/ and /etc/systemd/system/.
      • journald restart patterns: Flag bursts of stop/start events or deliberately triggered crashes of the zammad-* units (journalctl -u 'zammad*' | grep -E 'Main process exited|Scheduled restart'), especially when they closely follow file changes made by zammad.

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited: treat the vulnerability as a priority in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2. If it is exploited in your environment, check the reporting obligation under Art. 23 (early warning within 24 hours).
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    Since 11.09.2026, manufacturers of affected products with digital elements must report actively exploited vulnerabilities under Art. 14 CRA, with an early warning within 24 hours via ENISA's single reporting platform.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    Zammad packages built with packager.io (DEB and RPM) could have allowed a local attacker who already had file system write privileges as the unprivileged zammad service account to escalate to full root privileges on the host. Service processes began running as root and executed files that were owned and writable by the zammad account before dropping their identity to that account. An attacker holding that foothold could have escalated within seconds, because the affected services were restarted automatically whenever they stopped; no administrator interaction was required. Only installations from the DEB and RPM packages were affected — installations from source or the official container images were not. All released packaged versions were affected.

    Source: pwn.watch, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), BSI CSAF, BSI WID Portal, CISA KEV Catalog

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    Zammad GmbHZammad
    • 1.5.0 – < 7.2.2
    • 7.2.2
    zammadzammad
    • < 7.2.2
    • 7.2.2
    ZammadZammad
    • < 7.2
    • < 7.2.2
    • 7.2
    • 7.2.2

    Vendors and products

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-269Improper Privilege Management

      Class

      The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-269

    Public exploit references

    Publicly reported proof-of-concepts, exploit modules and detection templates for this vulnerability. NEOSEC links to the original sources only and does not provide any exploit code.

    Public exploit references
    CISA KEV CatalogCISA Known Exploited Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)cisa.govactively exploited

    References & sources

    • csirt.divd.nlDIVD-2026-00015Third-party advisory
    • csirt.divd.nlCVE-2026-102490Third-party advisory
    • cisa.govknown-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-1024…government-resource
    • zammad.comen/advisories/cve-2026-102489-cve-2026-102490Vendor advisory
    • community.zammad.orgt/take-care-local-privilege-escalation-cve-2026-102490-is-repor…Technical description
    • github.comzammad/zammad/security/advisories/GHSA-p97w-927q-8vxqVendor advisory, Technical description
    • pwn.watchpwn.watch: Zammad GmbH Zammad: Zammad GmbH Zammad Improper Privilege Management Vulnerabilitypwn-watch
    • zammad.comZammad GmbH Zammad — CVE-2026-102490pwn-watch
    • NVD (NIST)NVD: CVE-2026-102490pwn-watch
    • NVD (NIST)NVD: CVE-2026-102489pwn-watch
    • cisa.govCISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalogpwn-watch

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. NVD analysis modifiedNVD

      Product mapping changed:

      CVSS V3.1: AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

      CVSS V3.1: before AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, after —

      Show 4 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      CVSSadded
      —
      AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
      CVSSremoved
      AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
      —
      Product configurationchanged
      AND OR *cpe:2.3:a:zammad:zammad:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 1.5.0 up to (excluding) 7.1.0 *cpe:2.3:a:zammad:zammad:7.1.0:alpha:*:*:*:*:*:* OR cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* cpe:2.3:a:docker:docker:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
      AND OR *cpe:2.3:a:zammad:zammad:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions up to (excluding) 7.2.2 OR cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* cpe:2.3:a:docker:docker:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
      Reference typeadded
      —
      Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure: https://github.com/zammad/zammad/security/advisories/GHSA-p97w-927q-8vxq Types: Vendor Advisory

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

    2. Record modifieddivd.nl

      Description added or changed

      Show 5 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Descriptionchanged
      All versions of Zammad including the latest alpha enable the local zammad user to escalate privileges to root.
      Zammad packages built with packager.io (DEB and RPM) could have allowed a local attacker who already had file system write privileges as the unprivileged zammad service account to escalate to full root privileges on the host. Service processes began running as root and executed files that were owned and writable by the zammad account before dropping their identity to that account. An attacker holding that foothold could have escalated within seconds, because the affected services were restarted automatically whenever they stopped; no administrator interaction was required. Only installations from the DEB and RPM packages were affected — installations from source or the official container images were not. All released packaged versions were affected.
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      Affected value modified. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/102xxx/CVE-2026-102490.json">CVE-2026-102490</a>
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://github.com/zammad/zammad/security/advisories/GHSA-p97w-927q-8vxq
      Referenceremoved
      https://community.zammad.org/t/take-care-local-privilege-escalation-cve-2026-102490-is-reported-as-being-actively-exploited/21297/2
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://community.zammad.org/t/take-care-local-privilege-escalation-cve-2026-102490-is-reported-as-being-actively-exploited/21297/2 Types: Vendor Advisory
      —

      Source identifier: csirt@divd.nl

    3. NVD analysis modifiedNVD

      Show 2 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Reference typeadded
      —
      Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure: https://community.zammad.org/t/take-care-local-privilege-escalation-cve-2026-102490-is-reported-as-being-actively-exploited/21297/2 Types: Vendor Advisory
      Reference typeadded
      —
      Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure: https://zammad.com/en/advisories/cve-2026-102489-cve-2026-102490 Types: Vendor Advisory

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

    4. Record modifieddivd.nl

      Show 2 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://community.zammad.org/t/take-care-local-privilege-escalation-cve-2026-102490-is-reported-as-being-actively-exploited/21297/2
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://zammad.com/en/advisories/cve-2026-102489-cve-2026-102490

      Source identifier: csirt@divd.nl

    5. Record modifiedCISA ADP

      CISA assessment (SSVC): exploitation: active, automatable: no

      Show 2 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      SSVC assessmentremoved
      {"id":"CVE-2026-102490","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"active"},{"automatable":"no"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-10-02T16:27:22.630800Z"}
      —
      SSVC assessmentadded
      —
      {"id":"CVE-2026-102490","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"active"},{"automatable":"no"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-10-02T00:00:00+00:00"}

      Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Show 6 older changes

    1. NVD analysis modifiedNVD

      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Reference typeadded
      —
      CISA-ADP: https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-102490 Types: US Government Resource

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

    2. Record modifiedCISA ADP

      CISA assessment (SSVC): exploitation: active, automatable: no

      Show 3 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-102490
      SSVC assessmentremoved
      {"id":"CVE-2026-102490","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"none"},{"automatable":"no"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-10-02T13:39:40.534055Z"}
      —
      SSVC assessmentadded
      —
      {"id":"CVE-2026-102490","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"active"},{"automatable":"no"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-10-02T16:27:22.630800Z"}

      Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    3. Initial analysis by NVDNVD

      Newly listed as affected:
      • Zammad (1.5.0 – before 7.1.0; 1 individual version)

      CVSS V3.1: AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

      Show 4 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      CVSSadded
      —
      AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
      Product configurationadded
      —
      AND OR *cpe:2.3:a:zammad:zammad:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 1.5.0 up to (excluding) 7.1.0 *cpe:2.3:a:zammad:zammad:7.1.0:alpha:*:*:*:*:*:* OR cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* cpe:2.3:a:docker:docker:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
      Reference typeadded
      —
      Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure: https://csirt.divd.nl/CVE-2026-102490 Types: Third Party Advisory
      Reference typeadded
      —
      Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure: https://csirt.divd.nl/DIVD-2026-00015 Types: Third Party Advisory

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

    4. CISA KEV entry updated9119a7d8…

      4 individual changes: Date Added, Due Date, Required Action, Vulnerability Name

      Show 4 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Date Addedadded
      —
      2026-10-02
      Due Dateadded
      —
      2026-10-02
      Required Actionadded
      —
      2026-10-02
      Vulnerability Nameadded
      —
      2026-10-02

      Source identifier: 9119a7d8-5eab-497f-8521-727c672e3725

    5. Record modifiedCISA ADP

      CISA assessment (SSVC): exploitation: none known, automatable: no

      Weakness type: CWE-269

      Show 2 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Weakness type (CWE)added
      —
      CWE-269
      SSVC assessmentadded
      —
      {"id":"CVE-2026-102490","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"none"},{"automatable":"no"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-10-02T13:39:40.534055Z"}

      Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    6. Receiveddivd.nl

      CVSS V4.0: AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:A/AU:Y/V:C

      Description added or changed

      Show 5 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Descriptionadded
      —
      All versions of Zammad including the latest alpha enable the local zammad user to escalate privileges to root.
      CVSSadded
      —
      AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:A/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:Y/R:X/V:C/RE:X/U:X
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/102xxx/CVE-2026-102490.json">CVE-2026-102490</a>
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://csirt.divd.nl/CVE-2026-102490
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://csirt.divd.nl/DIVD-2026-00015

      Source identifier: csirt@divd.nl

    Linked advisories

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    Badge preview for CVE-2026-102490
    <a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2026-102490"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2026-102490.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2026-102490 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>