CVE-2026-48064 PUBLISHED

pam_usb: PAM_RHOST check skipped when deny_remote=false allows XDMCP authentication bypass

Assigner: GitHub_M
Reserved: 20.05.2026 Published: 27.05.2026 Updated: 27.05.2026

pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. Prior to 0.9.1, when a PAM service is configured with deny_remote=false in pam_usb (commonly done for display managers such as gdm-password or lightdm to bypass process/TTY heuristics for local sessions), the PAM_RHOST check in pusb_do_auth() is also skipped. PAM_RHOST is set by remote daemons (sshd, XDMCP servers) to identify the remote client address. Because the check is gated inside if (opts.deny_remote), a genuine remote XDMCP connection reaches the USB device authentication step instead of being rejected. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.1.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS Score: 8.1

Product Status

Vendor mcdope
Product pam_usb
Versions
  • Version < 0.9.1 is affected

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization CWE