CVE-2026-48985 json
pam_usb: NULL Dereference Crash in pusb_is_loginctl_local when loginctl Returns Empty Remote Field
published 4mo ago modified 16d ago also EUVD-2026-37924
- cvss
- 5.5
- version 3.1, CNA
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.2%
- EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 5%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
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. 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.
Patch / fix
Is CVE-2026-48985 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.
Check with FencerCISA SSVC
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- partial
- Assessed
- 4mo ago
Exploit prediction
0.16% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 5% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-11).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 3.1 | 5.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
Affected products
- mcdope pam_usb
Classification
- Weakness
-
- CWE-476 NULL Pointer Dereference
References
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-48985
- NVD CVE-2026-48985
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