CVE-2026-48065

MEDIUM

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

Title source: cna
STIX 2.1

Description

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.

References (3)

Core 3
Core References
X_Refsource_Misc x_refsource_misc
https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/issues/352
X_Refsource_Misc x_refsource_misc
https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/issues/55

Scores

CVSS v3 6.7
EPSS 0.0015
EPSS Percentile 4.5%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation none
Automatable no
Technical Impact total

Details

CWE
CWE-122 CWE-190
Status published
Products (1)
mcdope/pam_usb < 0.9.1
Published May 27, 2026
Tracked Since May 28, 2026