CVE-2026-48985
pam_usb: NULL Dereference Crash in pusb_is_loginctl_local when loginctl Returns Empty Remote Field
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 5.5 Medium
- Published
- Jun 18, 2026
- Updated
- Jun 18, 2026
- Reserved
- May 26, 2026
Description
pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. In versions 0.9.1 and below, pusb_is_loginctl_local() can cause a NULL dereference crash when parsing loginctl output. The function calls popen() and reads the result; if the Remote field is only a newline, fgets() succeeds but strtok_r(buf, "\n", &saveptr) returns NULL. A subsequent strcmp(is_remote, "no") then dereferences NULL, causing undefined behavior (typically SIGSEGV) and crashing the PAM module. This can crash the authenticating process (e.g., sudo, login) and, depending on PAM stack configuration, deny access for all users of the affected service. This issue has been fixed in version 0.9.2.
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 5.5 Medium | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H | GitHub_M |
Weaknesses
- CWE-476 NULL Pointer Dereference
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
pam_usbmcdope |
|
References
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