Critical Linux Warning: 800,000 Devices Are EXPOSED

A critical Telnet authentication bypass vulnerability (CVE-2026-24061) has been discovered, allowing attackers to gain immediate root access on Linux systems without a password. In this video, I demonstrate how this "simple string" exploit works against Ubuntu servers and why nearly 800,000 exposed devices are currently at risk. Using Kali Linux 2025.4 and Wireshark, we break down the packet traffic to show exactly how the telnet -f root command bypasses the login prompt entirely. Despite Telnet being an insecure protocol, legacy IoT devices and internal lab environments remain heavily reliant on it, making this 9.8 CVSS severity bug a massive threat in 2026. In this video, you will learn: • The Exploit: How to replicate CVE-2026-2461 using a simple environment variable injection. • The Analysis: A deep dive into Wireshark to see the clear-text traffic and authentication skip. • The Scale: Why 800k+ Telnet servers are exposed and how Shodan/Gray Noise are tracking active exploitation. • The Fix: Mitigation strategies and why you must migrate to SSH immediately. // David's SOCIAL // Discord: https://discord.com/invite/usKSyzb X: https://www.twitter.com/davidbombal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidbombal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbombal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidbombal.co TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@davidbombal YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@davidbombal Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3f6k6gERfuriI96efWWLQQ SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/davidbombal Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/david-bombal/id1466865532 // MY STUFF // https://www.amazon.com/shop/davidbombal // SPONSORS // Interested in sponsoring my videos? Reach out to my team here: sponsors@davidbombal.com // MENU // 0:00 - Beware of protocols // Telnet servers exposed 01:43 - Exploit demo on Kali 03:38 - Exploit demo on Ubuntu 04:17 - Exploit explained 04:48 - Another reason to not use Telnet 05:37 - The Telnet/ssh