CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2026-48980 — pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using removable media

Medium CVSS 6.3

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.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
6.3 (3.1)
Published
2026-06-18
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-454, CWE-807

Affected products

No browser-safe affected-product rows are available.

Matched remediation archetype

General vulnerability remediation

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Confirm the affected component, deployment paths, reachable interfaces, and enabled features from inventories and configuration, without probing production destructively.
  • Compare the advisory's affected conditions with the repository lockfiles, build manifests, artifacts, and runtime inventory.
  • Identify data sensitivity, trust boundaries, and privilege level for every confirmed affected deployment.

Remediate safely

  • Apply a vendor-supported fix or remove the affected component or feature; record the selected change and its source in the repository.
  • Update direct and transitive dependency locks, generated artifacts, deployment manifests, and asset inventories together.
  • Add a regression test for the documented unsafe condition using inert inputs and preserve rollback instructions.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

The detailed catalog view below loads this exact record, its source evidence, and the full seven-phase agentic change plan.