Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-2041

RCE in Nagios Xi 2026

Published
20 February 2026
Modified
24 February 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.73 99.4th percentile
Risk Priority 89 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-2041 is a high-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Nagios Nagios Xi. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked in the top 0.6% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2026-2041 is a command injection vulnerability resulting in remote code execution within the zabbixagent_configwizard_func method of Nagios Host. The flaw stems from insufficient validation of user-supplied strings before they are used in system calls, allowing arbitrary code execution on affected installations. Published on 2026-02-20, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) and is associated with CWE-78 (OS Command Injection). It was reported as ZDI-CAN-28250.

Remote attackers with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this vulnerability over the network (AV:N) with low attack complexity (AC:L) and no user interaction (UI:N). Authentication is required, but successful exploitation enables execution of arbitrary code in the context of the Nagios service account, granting high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H) within the unchanged security scope (S:U).

Advisories from the Zero Day Initiative (https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-26-073/) and the Nagios changelog (https://www.nagios.com/changelog/nagios-xi/nagios-xi-2026r1-0-1/) provide further details on the issue, including patch information for mitigation.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Nagios Host zabbixagent_configwizard_func Command Injection Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Nagios Host. Authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the zabbixagent_configwizard_func method. The…

more

issue results from the lack of proper validation of a user-supplied string before using it to execute a system call. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the service account. Was ZDI-CAN-28250.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse the Windows command shell for execution.
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-34134Same product: Nagios Nagios Xi
CVE-2024-14005Same product: Nagios Nagios Xi
CVE-2026-2042Same product: Nagios Nagios Xi
CVE-2019-15949Same product: Nagios Nagios Xi
CVE-2025-34227Same product: Nagios Nagios Xi
CVE-2018-8735Same product: Nagios Nagios Xi
CVE-2024-14003Same product: Nagios Nagios Xi
CVE-2024-14008Same product: Nagios Nagios Xi
CVE-2025-34286Same product: Nagios Nagios Xi
CVE-2026-2043Same product: Nagios Nagios Xi

Affected Assets

nagios
nagios xi
2026

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8
  • V15.2.5

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect command sanitization during development.

Input validation directly neutralizes or rejects special characters that would otherwise alter OS command structure.

Least privilege reduces the permissions available to any process that could be subverted by injected commands.

Least functionality restricts available OS commands and interpreters, limiting the blast radius of injection.

Secure engineering principles require proper neutralization of untrusted input before command construction.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing and code review target insecure use of operating-system command interfaces, catching command-injection flaws introduced during development.

References