CVE-2026-48065CWE-122CWE-190

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

Medium · published May 27, 2026

CVSS v3.1
6.7
EPSS
0%
Percentile
10.1
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

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.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
6.7 · MEDIUM
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00206 · 10.1th percentile
Weaknesses
CWE-122 · Heap-based Buffer Overflow; CWE-190 · Integer Overflow or Wraparound
Published
2026-05-27T19:58Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 27 MAY 19:58Z
    pam_usb: Unchecked integer multiplication before xmalloc() in conf.c allows heap-based buffer overflow on 32-bit targets
    cvelistv5