CVE-2026-48985
Published: Thu, 18 Jun 2026 18:16
Summary
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
Details
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.
Are YOU affected by CVE-2026-48985?
5-second check on your actual server. Reads /etc/os-release, uname -r, and dpkg-query; matches against the live USN + Debian Security Tracker feeds; tells you whether CVE-2026-48985 (and any other live CVE) applies. Anonymous, no signup.
curl https://mindsparkstack.com/scan.sh | bash
References
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