CVE-2026-48065 PUBLISHED

pam_usb: Unchecked integer multiplication before xmalloc() in conf.c allows heap-based buffer overflow on 32-bit targets

Assigner: GitHub_M
Reserved: 20.05.2026 Published: 27.05.2026 Updated: 28.05.2026

pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. Prior to 0.9.1, src/conf.c allocates heap memory proportional to n_devices, a count derived from libxml2 XPath evaluation of the config file, without first enforcing an upper bound. On 32-bit targets (armv7l, i686 -- both listed in the project Makefile), the multiplication n_devices * sizeof(t_pusb_device) wraps around size_t, causing xmalloc() to receive a very small size. Because xmalloc() only calls abort() on NULL return, a small-but-non-NULL allocation is accepted, and subsequent array writes overflow the heap. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.1.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS Score: 6.7

Product Status

Vendor mcdope
Product pam_usb
Versions
  • Version < 0.9.1 is affected

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-122: Heap-based Buffer Overflow CWE
  • CWE-190: Integer Overflow or Wraparound CWE