+44 1865 950 828 Secure Your Business
Actively exploited

CVE-2026-102490 Zammad GmbH Zammad Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability

Zammad GmbH Zammad contains an improper privilege management vulnerability that can allow the local zammad user to escalate privileges to root. This vulnerability can be chained with CVE-2026-102489.

From the CISA KEV catalogue version 2026.11.06, with Cybergen analysis. Updated 6 Nov 2026.

Our Assessment

Should You Worry?

Patch nowCybergen assessment
  • CISA confirmed exploitation in the wild and added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on 2 Oct 2026.
  • Rated Critical severity (CVSS 9.4, scored by Vendor).
  • It has been in the catalogue for 35 days. Systems still unpatched now have almost certainly been scanned for it.
The Vulnerability

What It Is

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.

Affected Versions

ProductVersions
Zammad GmbH Zammad1.5.0 to before 7.2.2

From the public CVE record, as supplied by the vendor. Always confirm against the vendor advisory.

From Watch to Action

What To Do Now

  1. 1

    Find it

    Search your asset inventory and external attack surface for Zammad GmbH Zammad. Include cloud images, appliances and anything a supplier runs for you.

    Attack Surface Management
  2. 2

    Fix it

    Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.

    Vulnerability Management
  3. 3

    Hunt for compromise

    If an affected system was reachable before you patched, assume it may have been hit. Check logs, new accounts, web shells and outbound connections from the date of exposure.

    Incident Response
  4. 4

    Prove it is fixed

    Rescan or test the system after patching. Upgrades that fail silently and forgotten secondary instances are common.

    Penetration Testing

Vendor Advisories

Regulation

The Compliance Clock

Cyber EssentialsRated critical, so if it affects devices in your Cyber Essentials scope, the update must be installed within 14 days of the vendor releasing it.NIS2If exploitation causes a significant incident, essential and important entities owe their CSIRT an early warning within 24 hours and a notification within 72 hours.DORAFinancial entities must classify ICT incidents and send an initial notification for a major incident within strict deadlines, with exploited flaws a common cause.US federal (BOD 22-01)Federal civilian agencies had until 5 Oct 2026 to remediate. A sensible benchmark for everyone else.

General guidance, not legal advice. Your obligations depend on your sector, scope and jurisdiction.

Stay Ahead

More Exploited Zammad GmbH Flaws

Get alerts for Zammad GmbHWe email you when a new Zammad GmbH vulnerability is confirmed as exploited. Add more vendors on Threat Watch.

By signing up you agree to receive Threat Watch alerts. Unsubscribe at any time. See our Privacy Policy.

CVE-2026-102489Zammad GmbH Zammad Session Fixation VulnerabilityAdded 2 Oct 2026

All 2 exploited Zammad GmbH vulnerabilities

Not Sure If You Are Exposed?

Our attack surface and vulnerability teams can check your internet-facing estate for CVE-2026-102490 and every other exploited flaw on the list.

Check My Exposure
Evidence

Sources

  1. CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue
  2. NVD: CVE-2026-102490
  3. CVE record: CVE-2026-102490
  4. FIRST EPSS
  5. zammad.com/en/product/releases/
  6. community.zammad.org/t/take-care-local-privilege-escalation-cve-2026-102490-is-reported-as-being-act
  7. csirt.divd.nl/DIVD-2026-00015
  8. csirt.divd.nl/CVE-2026-102490
  9. zammad.com/en/advisories/cve-2026-102489-cve-2026-102490
  10. github.com/zammad/zammad/security/advisories/GHSA-p97w-927q-8vxq