Skip to content
Fencer Intel
low 2.1

CVE-2011-3149 json

The _expand_arg function in the pam_env module (modules/pam_env/pam_env.c) in Linux-PAM (aka pam) before 1.1.5 does not properly handle whe…

published 2012-07-22 14 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2011-3116

cvss
2.1
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.5%
EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 45%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The _expand_arg function in the pam_env module (modules/pam_env/pam_env.c) in Linux-PAM (aka pam) before 1.1.5 does not properly handle when environment variable expansion can overflow, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption).

Patch / fix

  • pam Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1.1.3-5

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2011-3149

  • pam RHEL 6 1.1.1-13.el6

red hat advisories RHSA-2013:0521

  • pam openSUSE Tumbleweed 1.3.0-3.4

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10405-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2011-3149 updated cvss 1.2

(pam_env): Infinite loop by expanding certain arguments

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) pam 1.1.1-13.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) pam 1.1.1-13.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) pam 1.1.1-13.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) pam 1.1.1-13.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) pam 1.1.1-13.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) pam 1.1.1-13.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:0521
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 pam Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 pam
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.53% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 45% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 2.1 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-119 Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.