---
id: CVE-2026-119335
title: >-
  Pi-hole: Local privilege escalation from `pihole` user to root via
  CVE-2026-41489  fix bypass
summary: >-
  Pi-hole is a DNS sinkhole that protects devices from unwanted content without
  installing any client-side software. Prior to 6.5, advanced/Scripts/utils.sh
  getFTLPID() attempts to validate the pihole-owned /run/pihole-FTL.pid file
  with ex…
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cvssSource: cna
cwe:
  - CWE-78
vendor: pi-hole
product: pi-hole
affected:
  - pi-hole < 6.5
ssvc:
  exploitation: poc
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-11-05T02:37:28.938906Z'
exploitAvailable: true
published: '2026-10-30'
updated: '2026-11-05'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-05T02:38:07.600Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-119335'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/security/advisories/GHSA-cf36-4hhc-8398'
    label: 'https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/security/advisories/GHSA-cf36-4hhc-8398'
  - url: 'https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/pull/6719'
    label: 'https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/pull/6719'
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/commit/555dd4d8b3699327fbba482bb73cce5f53979bd1
    label: >-
      https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/commit/555dd4d8b3699327fbba482bb73cce5f53979bd1
  - url: 'https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/releases/tag/v6.5'
    label: 'https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/releases/tag/v6.5'
tags:
  - cve.org
  - exploit-available
epss: 0.00228
epssPercentile: 0.13682
ingestedAt: '2026-11-05T21:36:00.702Z'
---

## Overview

Pi-hole is a DNS sinkhole that protects devices from unwanted content without installing any client-side software. Prior to 6.5, advanced/Scripts/utils.sh getFTLPID() attempts to validate the pihole-owned /run/pihole-FTL.pid file with expr "${FTL_PID}" : "[^[:digit:]]", but this rejects only values whose first character is not a digit. An attacker with code execution as the pihole user can write a digit-prefixed arithmetic expression to the pihole-owned PID file. Root-run pihole subcommands then evaluate [[ "$pid" -eq "-1" ]], causing Bash to recursively evaluate array subscripts and execute command substitution as root. This bypasses the content-validation portion of the CVE-2026-41489 remediation while leaving its hardcoded PID-file path protection intact. This issue is fixed in version 6.5.

## Affected

- `pi-hole < 6.5`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.