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

In short

Zammad GmbH Zammad has a weakness classified as improper privilege management (CWE-269). CISA added it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-10-02. NVD lists CVSS 4.0 at 9.4 CRITICAL.

What it is

“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.” — CISA KEV, retrieved 2026-11-01

“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.” — NVD, retrieved 2026-11-01

Who is affected

Zammad GmbH Zammad. NVD lists the following versions as affected:

• Versions before 7.2.2

Exploitation status

CISA KEV added: 2026-10-02. Known ransomware campaign use: Not reported by CISA. Due date CISA set for US federal civilian agencies: 2026-10-05.

Scores

NVD CVSS 4.0: 9.4 CRITICAL; vector CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:A/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:Y/R:X/V:C/RE:X/U:X; source [email protected].

EPSS by FIRST: 10.94%; percentile 95.88; score date 2026-10-31. EPSS estimates the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

CWE: CWE-269.

Timeline

CISA required action

“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.” — CISA KEV

What to do

• Confirm whether you run Zammad GmbH Zammad and which version.
• Apply the vendor update or mitigation in the advisory.
• Follow CISA’s required action.
• Review the vendor guidance on signs of compromise.
• Track the fix through completion.

References

• Third Party Advisory: https://csirt.divd.nl/CVE-2026-102490
• Third Party Advisory: https://csirt.divd.nl/DIVD-2026-00015
• Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/zammad/zammad/security/advisories/GHSA-p97w-927q-8vxq
• Vendor Advisory: https://zammad.com/en/advisories/cve-2026-102489-cve-2026-102490
• NVD detail
• CVE.org record
• CISA KEV catalog

Sources and dates

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, version 2026.10.30; retrieved 2026-11-01. CISA KEV data: CC0 1.0. No endorsement by CISA.

NVD retrieved: 2026-11-01. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.

EPSS scores by FIRST; score date 2026-10-31.