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Vulnerability record · CVE-2026-41489 · published 11 May 2026

CVE-2026-41489: Improper privilege management vulnerability

Pi-hole is a DNS sinkhole that protects devices from unwanted content without installing any client-side software. From 6.0 to before Core 6.4.2 and FTL 6.6.1, two shell scripts executed as root by systemd (pihole-FTL-prestart.sh and pihole-FTL-poststop.sh) read the files.pid path from this config without validation and use it in privileged file operations (install and rm -f). By writing an arbitrary path into files.pid, an attacker with pihole privilege can cause root to delete and then recreate any file on the system outside the ProtectSystem=full-restricted directories, gaining write access to it. On a default Pi-hole installation this yields local privilege escalation to root via SSH authorized keys manipulation. If /root/.ssh/authorized_keys does not exist (default on fresh installs), only ExecStartPre is required. If the file exists, ExecStopPost deletes it first, and the same restart triggers both hooks in sequence. This vulnerability is fixed in Core 6.4.2 and FTL 6.6.1.

8.8 CVSS 3.1 High EPSS 0.19% · top 92.3% CWE-15 · CWE-15CWE-269 · Improper privilege management Deferred
8.8CVSS 3.1 base score
0.19%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
0Affected product versions listed by NVD
2References
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

Pi-hole is a DNS sinkhole that protects devices from unwanted content without installing any client-side software. From 6.0 to before Core 6.4.2 and FTL 6.6.1, two shell scripts executed as root by systemd (pihole-FTL-prestart.sh and pihole-FTL-poststop.sh) read the files.pid path from this config without validation and use it in privileged file operations (install and rm -f). By writing an arbitrary path into files.pid, an attacker with pihole privilege can cause root to delete and then recreate any file on the system outside the ProtectSystem=full-restricted directories, gaining write access to it. On a default Pi-hole installation this yields local privilege escalation to root via SSH authorized keys manipulation. If /root/.ssh/authorized_keys does not exist (default on fresh installs), only ExecStartPre is required. If the file exists, ExecStopPost deletes it first, and the same restart triggers both hooks in sequence. This vulnerability is fixed in Core 6.4.2 and FTL 6.6.1.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

LinkTags
https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/security/advisories/GHSA-6w8x-p785-6pm4
https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/security/advisories/GHSA-6w8x-p785-6pm4

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2026-41489), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.