Pi-hole is a DNS sinkhole that protects devices from unwanted content without installing any client-side software. From 6.0 to before Core 6.4.2 and FTL 6.6.1, two shell scripts executed as root by systemd (pihole-FTL-prestart.sh and pihole-FTL-poststop.sh) read the files.pid path from this config without validation and use it in privileged file operations (install and rm -f). By writing an arbitrary path into files.pid, an attacker with pihole privilege can cause root to delete and then recreate any file on the system outside the ProtectSystem=full-restricted directories, gaining write access to it. On a default Pi-hole installation this yields local privilege escalation to root via SSH authorized keys manipulation. If /root/.ssh/authorized_keys does not exist (default on fresh installs), only ExecStartPre is required. If the file exists, ExecStopPost deletes it first, and the same restart triggers both hooks in sequence. This vulnerability is fixed in Core 6.4.2 and FTL 6.6.1.

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History

Mon, 11 May 2026 23:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Pi-hole
Pi-hole pi-hole
Vendors & Products Pi-hole
Pi-hole pi-hole

Mon, 11 May 2026 20:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Pi-hole is a DNS sinkhole that protects devices from unwanted content without installing any client-side software. From 6.0 to before Core 6.4.2 and FTL 6.6.1, two shell scripts executed as root by systemd (pihole-FTL-prestart.sh and pihole-FTL-poststop.sh) read the files.pid path from this config without validation and use it in privileged file operations (install and rm -f). By writing an arbitrary path into files.pid, an attacker with pihole privilege can cause root to delete and then recreate any file on the system outside the ProtectSystem=full-restricted directories, gaining write access to it. On a default Pi-hole installation this yields local privilege escalation to root via SSH authorized keys manipulation. If /root/.ssh/authorized_keys does not exist (default on fresh installs), only ExecStartPre is required. If the file exists, ExecStopPost deletes it first, and the same restart triggers both hooks in sequence. This vulnerability is fixed in Core 6.4.2 and FTL 6.6.1.
Title Pi-hole: Local privilege escalation via config-controlled path in root-executed service hooks
Weaknesses CWE-15
CWE-269
CWE-732
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 8.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H'}


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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published:

Updated: 2026-05-11T20:21:38.905Z

Reserved: 2026-04-20T16:14:19.007Z

Link: CVE-2026-41489

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-05-11T21:19:00.267

Modified: 2026-05-11T21:19:00.267

Link: CVE-2026-41489

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-05-11T23:30:02Z

Weaknesses