# CVE-2026-102490: Zammad GmbH Zammad Improper Privilege Management

> Local attackers with write access to Zammad service files can escalate to root privileges due to insecure service restart mechanisms in DEB and RPM packages.

- **Severity:** High 8.5 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:A/AU:Y/V:D`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Yes, since 2 Oct 2026 (CISA KEV)
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 30 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 8 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hgff-g8g3-4xr8, GHSA-p97w-927q-8vxq

## What is CVE-2026-102490?

CVE-2026-102490 is a high-severity vulnerability in Zammad Zammad, published on 30 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official 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.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-102490?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Zammad Zammad.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-102490?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-102490 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available. US federal agencies must fix it by 5 Oct 2026.

## Is CVE-2026-102490 being exploited?

Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2026-102490 in the wild since at least 2 Oct 2026.

## Other vulnerabilities in Zammad Zammad

- [CVE-2026-102489](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-102489/): Zammad GmbH Zammad Session Fixation (high 8.7, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-48021](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48021/): Code injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-35490](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-35490/): Security feature bypass in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-42090](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42090/): Deserialization in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-42094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42094/): Command injection in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-102490 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-102490 is a high-severity vulnerability in Zammad Zammad, published on 30 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2026-102490 in the wild since at least 2 Oct 2026.

Affected product: Zammad Zammad. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-102490/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-102490/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-102490
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-102490
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-102490

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-102490/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.