CVE-2026-44713
HIGHpam_usb: Command injection via $TMUX environment variable leads to RCE as root
Title source: cnaDescription
pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. Prior to 0.8.7, src/tmux.c reads the user's $TMUX environment variable, splits it on commas, and interpolates the socket-path component directly into a shell command passed to popen(). Because the value is placed inside double-quotes without sanitisation, any value containing " terminates the quoted string and injects arbitrary shell syntax. popen() runs as root inside the PAM stack. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.8.7.
References (1)
Core 1
Core References
X_Refsource_Confirm x_refsource_confirm
https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/security/advisories/GHSA-822m-whrh-vrj8
Scores
CVSS v3
8.8
EPSS
0.0016
EPSS Percentile
5.3%
Attack Vector
LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CISA SSVC
Vulnrichment
Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical Impact
total
Details
CWE
CWE-116
CWE-78
Status
published
Products (1)
mcdope/pam_usb
< 0.8.7
Published
May 27, 2026
Tracked Since
May 28, 2026