CVSS VectorNVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Lifecycle Timeline
4DescriptionNVD
pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. Prior to 0.9.0, pam_usb's deny_remote feature checks utmpx ut_addr_v6 to detect whether an authentication request originates from a remote session. The outer guard was if (utent->ut_addr_v6[0] != 0), which only tests the first 32-bit word of the 128-bit address field. IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses (::ffff:x.x.x.x) store the IPv4 address in ut_addr_v6[3] with ut_addr_v6[0] == 0. On systems where the SSH daemon listens on :: (IPv6 wildcard) with AddressFamily any -- common on Ubuntu and Debian -- incoming IPv4 connections are recorded in utmpx as IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses. The outer check evaluates to false, the remote-detection block is skipped entirely, and the session is treated as local. deny_remote=true does not block the authentication. An attacker with physical access to a registered USB device can authenticate over SSH on an affected system as if they were sitting at a local terminal, bypassing the deny_remote restriction. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.0.
AnalysisAI
Authentication-context bypass in pam_usb before 0.9.0 lets a person holding an enrolled USB device authenticate over SSH while the module's deny_remote protection wrongly classifies the connection as a local terminal session. The root cause is an incomplete check of the utmpx ut_addr_v6 field that misreads IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses (::ffff:x.x.x.x) as having no remote address, which is the normal way Debian and Ubuntu record incoming IPv4 SSH connections when sshd listens on the IPv6 wildcard. …
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RemediationAI
Within 24 hours: Identify all systems using pam_usb and verify versions; review SSH audit logs for remote authentication from USB token users; inventory USB token holders and assess access levels. Within 7 days: Implement firewall rules restricting SSH to trusted network segments only; add secondary authentication (certificates, RADIUS/LDAP) for systems requiring remote SSH access; consider disabling remote SSH entirely if not operationally critical. …
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EUVD-2026-32656