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CVE-2026-48986

MEDIUM
4.7
CVSS 3.1
Description
pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using removable media. In pam_usb 0.9.1 and earlier, usb_get_process_parent_id() can cause an infinite loop DoS because it does not initialize *ppid on failure. In pusb_local_login(), the same variable is reused as input and output in a process-tree while loop; if /proc/<pid>/stat cannot be read (for example, when an ancestor process exits during authentication), the PID is not updated and the loop does not terminate. This hangs the authenticating process (such as sudo, sshd, or login) until it is forcibly terminated. This issue has been fixed in version 0.9.2.

Metadata

CVE ID
CVE-2026-48986
State
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Reserved
2026-05-26 23:26 UTC
Published
2026-06-18 17:20 UTC
Last updated
2026-06-18 17:20 UTC
Primary CWE
CWE-835
CWE-835: Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loo…
Vendor / Product
mcdope / pam_usb
Sources
cve.org  ·  NVD

Severity & Metrics

4.7 MEDIUM CVSS 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Affected products (1)
VendorProductPlatformVersions
mcdope pam_usb — < 0.9.2
Weakness (CWE)
CWESourceDescription
CWE-835 cna CWE-835: Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')
CVSS scores (1)
ScoreSeverityVersionSourceVector
4.7 MEDIUM 3.1 cna CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
References (2)
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