Pi-hole: Local privilege escalation from `pihole` user to root via CVE-2026-41489 fix bypass

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API

Summary

CVECVE-2026-119335
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerGitHub_M
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-10-30 20:17:08 UTC
Updated2026-10-30 20:17:08 UTC
DescriptionPi-hole is a DNS sinkhole that protects devices from unwanted content without installing any client-side software. Prior to 6.5, advanced/Scripts/utils.sh getFTLPID() attempts to validate the pihole-owned /run/pihole-FTL.pid file with expr "${FTL_PID}" : "[^[:digit:]]", but this rejects only values whose first character is not a digit. An attacker with code execution as the pihole user can write a digit-prefixed arithmetic expression to the pihole-owned PID file. Root-run pihole subcommands then evaluate [[ "$pid" -eq "-1" ]], causing Bash to recursively evaluate array subscripts and execute command substitution as root. This bypasses the content-validation portion of the CVE-2026-41489 remediation while leaving its hardcoded PID-file path protection intact. This issue is fixed in version 6.5.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 7.8 HIGH from [email protected]

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

Problem Types: CWE-78 | CWE-78 CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Secondary7.8HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
3.1CNADECLARED7.8HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Pi-hole Pi-hole affected < 6.5 Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/security/advisories/GHSA-cf36-4hhc-8398 [email protected] github.com
github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/releases/tag/v6.5 [email protected] github.com
github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/commit/555dd4d8b3699327fbba482bb73cce5f53979bd1 [email protected] github.com
github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/pull/6719 [email protected] github.com
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