CVE-2026-79920 Ajenti: Privilege escalation to root via unauthenticated/unauthorized plugin install task
Low-privileged users can escalate to root by exploiting missing authorization in plugin installation tasks, leading to full host compromise.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-79920?
CVE-2026-79920 is a critical vulnerability in ajenti, published on 21 Sep 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Ajenti is a Linux & BSD modular server admin panel. Prior to version 2.2.16, any authenticated user can call /api/core/tasks/start to enqueue InstallPlugin, UnInstallPlugin, or UpgradeAll from plugins/plugins/tasks.py without plugin-management authorization. InstallPlugin and UnInstallPlugin construct a pip package specification from unvalidated name and version fields, and the task worker invokes pip while running as root. A low-privileged user can therefore select or manipulate a package installed with root privileges and can install, remove, or upgrade plugins without administrative permission, resulting in root code execution and full host compromise. This issue is fixed in version 2.2.16.
Weakness: CWE-862
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-79920?
How do I fix CVE-2026-79920?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-79920 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2026-79920 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-79920 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-j8xf-5fw2-f99q.