MikroTik RouterOS CVE-2026-86060 exploited in the wild
Executive summary
CISA lists CVE-2026-86060, a vulnerability in MikroTik RouterOS, in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2026-09-10, due 2026-09-13), and NVD records a CVSS of 9.2. This report summarizes public CTI only.
Technical analysis
RouterOS contains an argument-handling flaw in the SSH login path involving usernames that begin with a prohibited character, allowing for the trusted RouterOS policy mask to be changed, leading to privilege escalation. Exploitation requires an unauthenticated SSH session to reach the RouterOS login helper.This issue was fixed in versions: 6.49.21 (Long-term), 7.23.4 (Long-term) and 7.24.2 (Stable) CPE: CWE-88. CVSS vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/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:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X.
IOCs
No public IOC is available.
CVEs and affected products
RouterOS contains an argument-handling flaw in the SSH login path involving usernames that begin with a prohibited character, allowing for the trusted RouterOS policy mask to be changed, leading to privilege escalation. Exploitation requires an unauthenticated SSH session to reach the RouterOS login helper.This issue was fixed in versions: 6.49.21 (Long-term), 7.23.4 (Long-term) and 7.24.2 (Stable)
ATT&CK mapping
Exploit Public-Facing Application
Tactic: Initial Access
Detection content
Sigma rules, YARA rules, Splunk SPL, and KQL detection logic.
Threat hunting
Hypothesis-driven hunt procedures and telemetry checklist.
Remediation
Containment actions, patching notes, and credential steps.
Historical relationships
No published historical relationship is available.
Timeline and change history
Confidence and caveats
0.9
⚠️ This report describes public CTI and does not assess any specific organization's exposure.
⚠️ Detection queries are templates and require local validation.
⚠️ Exploitation status reflects the public CISA KEV catalog record.
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Intelligence Sources & Advisory Feeds
DFIR investigations, vendor research, advisory feeds & verified claims
15 references
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Evidence consists of the NVD record, the CISA KEV catalog entry, the FIRST EPSS model output, and indexed source documents that reference this CVE.
NVD entry for CVE-2026-86060: RouterOS contains an argument-handling flaw in the SSH login path involving usernames that begin with a prohibited character, allowing for the trusted RouterOS policy mask to be changed, leading to privilege escalation. Exploitation requires an unauthenticated SSH session to reach the RouterOS login helper.This issue was fixed in versions: 6.49.21 (Long-term), 7.23.4 (Long-term) and 7.24.2 (Stable) The record carries CVSS 9.2 (4.0) vector CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/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:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X, weaknesses CWE-88.
CISA added CVE-2026-86060 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-09-10 with a required due date of 2026-09-13, recording the vulnerability as exploited in the wild and affecting vendor MikroTik, product RouterOS. 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.
FIRST EPSS models an exploitation probability of 0.01849 (percentile 0.78161) for CVE-2026-86060.
Source the-hacker-news published 2026-09-23 at https://thehackernews.com/2026/09/mikrotrick-chain-let-attackers-take.html references CVE-2026-86060 affecting MikroTik RouterOS.
Source check-point-research published 2026-09-14 at https://research.checkpoint.com/2026/14th-september-threat-intelligence-report/ references CVE-2026-86060 affecting MikroTik RouterOS.
Source cisa-cybersecurity-advisories published 2026-09-10 at https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2026/09/10/cisa-adds-two-known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog references CVE-2026-86060 affecting MikroTik RouterOS.
Source cisa-known-exploited-vulnerabilities published 2026-09-10 at https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/feeds/known_exploited_vulnerabilities.json#CVE-2026-86060 references CVE-2026-86060 affecting MikroTik RouterOS.
Source soc-prime-detection-news published 2026-09-07 at https://socprime.com/blog/cve-2026-67276-mikrotik-routeros-ssh-zero-day/ references CVE-2026-86060 affecting MikroTik RouterOS.
Source nist-national-vulnerability-database-nvd published 2026-09-05 at https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-86060 references CVE-2026-86060 affecting MikroTik RouterOS.
Source canadian-centre-for-cyber-security-alerts published undated at https://cyber.gc.ca/en/alerts-advisories/mikrotik-security-advisory-av26-887 references CVE-2026-86060 affecting MikroTik RouterOS.
Source canadian-centre-for-cyber-security-alerts published undated at https://cyber.gc.ca/en/alerts-advisories/al26-020-vulnerabilities-impacting-mikrotik-routeros-cve-2026-67276-cve-2026-67277-cve-2026-86060 references CVE-2026-86060 affecting MikroTik RouterOS.