Vulnerability · Published Jun 18, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2026-48980pam_usb: getenv() used in PAM context allows environment variable injection into local-check logic

Medium 6.3

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in pam_usb from mcdope. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 7% of all known vulnerabilities).

Severity (CVSS 3.1)6.3Medium

Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 92.9% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none

Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using removable media. In versions prior to 0.9.2, getenv() environment variables XRDP_SESSION, DISPLAY and TMUX allow environment variable injection into local-check logic. These environment variables influence whether a current session is local or remote, and a PAM module that runs in the context of setuid binaries (sudo, su), getenv() returns attacker-controlled values whenever the process environment has been manipulated by a local user. This issue has been fixed in version 0.9.2.

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
mcdope	pam_usb	< 0.9.2

Weakness: CWE-454, CWE-807 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

References

https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/security/advisories/GHSA-qr83-mf3h-fvqr x_refsource_CONFIRM
https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/releases/tag/0.9.2 x_refsource_MISC