Zammad GmbH Zammad Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability
Zammad GmbH · Zammad
Zammad packages built with packager.io (DEB and RPM) contain an improper privilege management flaw in which services start as root and execute files owned and writable by the unprivileged zammad account before dropping privileges. A local attacker who already has file system write access as the zammad service account can escalate to full root on the host without any user interaction, with the automatic service restarts making the escalation quick; installations from source or the official container images are not affected.
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.
- Exploited
- Yes, in CISA KEV
- Reports
- 0
- Tactics
- 2/15
How an attack unfolds
Based on MITRE ATT&CKA public catalogue of the techniques attackers use, maintained by MITRE. Patchfirst uses it to describe what attackers do with a vulnerability. mappings. Select a step to see the evidence.Exploitation timelineDated milestones for a CVE: when it was disclosed, when exploit code became public, when exploitation was confirmed, and when threat reports named it.
First seen exploited the day it was disclosed.
- Added to CISA KEV+2 days
CISA KEV listing is when exploitation was confirmed, not necessarily the first attack.
MITRE ATT&CKA public catalogue of the techniques attackers use, maintained by MITRE. Patchfirst uses it to describe what attackers do with a vulnerability. techniques
2 TechniqueOne specific attacker behaviour in MITRE ATT&CK, such as T1190 “Exploit Public-Facing Application”. IDs with a dot, like T1059.004, are sub-techniques., grouped by TacticThe attacker’s goal at a stage of an attack in MITRE ATT&CK, such as Initial Access or Persistence. Each technique belongs to one or more tactics. in kill-chain order, 2 cited passages 2ExecutionTA0002
root services execute attacker-writable files
executed files that were owned and writable by the zammad account
Privilege EscalationTA0004
local privilege escalation via writable root-executed files
could have allowed a local attacker who already had file system write privileges
Detection
0 rules for this CVE · 126 general rules for its techniquesRules for this CVE
0Sigma ruleAn open, vendor-neutral detection rule for log data. Security teams convert Sigma rules into searches for their own SIEM. that reference CVE-2026-102490 directly.CVE-specific rules are not available in this build. Search SigmaHQ ↗
General rules for this CVE’s techniques
These detect the technique in general, not this specific vulnerability.
Exploitation for Privilege EscalationT106831 general rules
- Exploiting CVE-2019-1388criticalstable
- Audit CVE Eventcriticaltest
- HackTool - SysmonEOP Executioncriticaltest
- InstallerFileTakeOver LPE CVE-2021-41379 File Create Eventcriticaltest
- Possible Coin Miner CPU Priority Paramcriticaltest
- Potential CVE-2021-41379 Exploitation Attemptcriticaltest
- Potential SystemNightmare Exploitation Attemptcriticaltest
- Sudo Privilege Escalation CVE-2019-14287 - Builtincriticaltest
Command and Scripting InterpreterT105995 general rules
- HackTool - Sliver C2 Implant Activity Patterncriticaltest
- Lazarus Group Activitycriticaltest
- REvil Kaseya Incident Malware Patternscriticaltest
- Turla Group Lateral Movementcriticaltest
- Windows Defender AMSI Trigger Detectedhighstable
- Windows Defender Threat Detectedhighstable
- Abusable DLL Potential Sideloading From Suspicious Locationhightest
- Add Insecure Download Source To Wingethightest
Sigma rules © SigmaHQ, Detection Rule License 1.1; linked, not reproduced.
What security researchers reported
Not named in any threat report yetAlso mentioned in 27 community threat pulses (AlienVault OTX)
Weaker evidencePulses are indicator collections that anyone can publish. A mention is not confirmation of exploitation.
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 30, 202629 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 29, 202628 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 28, 202627 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 27, 202626 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 24, 202623 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 23, 202622 Oct 2026
- 21 more on OTX