Pi-hole has a Local Privilege Escalation (post-compromise, pihole -> root).
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Privilege escalation
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-269.
Summary
Pi-hole is a Linux network-level advertisement and Internet tracker blocking application. Version 6.4 has a local privilege-escalation vulnerability allows code execution as root from the low-privilege pihole account. Important context: the pihole account uses nologin, so this is not a direct interactive-login issue. However, nologin does not prevent code from running as UID pihole if a Pi-hole component is compromised. In that realistic post-compromise scenario, attacker-controlled content in /etc/pihole/versions is sourced by root-run Pi-hole scripts, leading to root code execution. This vulnerability is fixed in 6.4.1.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA pi-hole (pi-hole) Fixed in 6.4.1
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-33727
References
More Pi-hole vulnerabilities
- TI-2020-07073 Pi-hole Web v4.3.2 (aka AdminLTE) allows Remote Code Execution by privileged dashboard… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 7.2
- TI-2020-08981 The Gravity updater in Pi-hole through 4.4 allows an authenticated adversary to upload… CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2026-36901 Pi-hole: Local privilege escalation from `pihole` user to root via `/etc/pihole/logrotate` CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2024-22701 Pi-hole Blind Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability can lead to Remote Code Execution (RCE) CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2021-12374 (Authenticated) Remote Code Execution Possible in Web Interface 5.5 CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2024-18806 Pihole Authenticated Arbitrary File Read with root privileges CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.6
Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences