# CVE-2026-30874: OpenWrt procd PATH Environment Variable Filter Bypass via Incorrect String Comparison Leads to Privilege Escalation

> An attacker can bypass environment variable filtering in OpenWrt procd to inject a malicious PATH, leading to privilege escalation via hotplug scripts.

- **Severity:** Low 1.8 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 19 Mar 2026
- **Updated:** 20 Mar 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-jw28-hxcm-j934

## What is CVE-2026-30874?

CVE-2026-30874 is a low-severity vulnerability in Openwrt Openwrt, published on 19 Mar 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

OpenWrt Project is a Linux operating system targeting embedded devices. In versions prior to 24.10.6, a vulnerability in the hotplug_call function allows an attacker to bypass environment variable filtering and inject an arbitrary PATH variable, potentially leading to privilege escalation. The function is intended to filter out sensitive environment variables like PATH when executing hotplug scripts in /etc/hotplug.d, but a bug using strcmp instead of strncmp causes the filter to compare the full environment string (e.g., PATH=/some/value) against the literal "PATH", so the match always fails. As a result, the PATH variable is never excluded, enabling an attacker to control which binaries are executed by procd-invoked scripts running with elevated privileges. This issue has been fixed in version 24.10.6.

Weakness: CWE-74 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component), CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management), CWE-187 (Partial String Comparison)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-30874?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Openwrt Openwrt.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-30874?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-30874 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-30874 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-30874 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Openwrt Openwrt

- [CVE-2020-28951](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-28951/): Use after free in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-62948](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-62948/): Cross-site scripting in openwrt (critical 9.6)
- [CVE-2026-30871](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-30871/): OpenWrt Project has Stack-based Buffer Overflow in DNS PTR Query (critical 9.5)
- [CVE-2026-30872](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-30872/): OpenWrt Project has a Stack-based Buffer Overflow vulnerability via IPv6 reverse DNS lookup (critical 9.5)
- [CVE-2021-28961](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-28961/): Command injection in n/a (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-30874 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-30874 is a low-severity vulnerability in Openwrt Openwrt, published on 19 Mar 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-30874 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Openwrt Openwrt. 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-2026-30874/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-30874/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-30874
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-30874
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-30874

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-30874/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.