CVE-2026-48986CWE-835

pam_usb: Infinite loop DoS in process-tree walk when parent process exits during authentication

Medium · published June 18, 2026

CVSS v3.1
4.7
EPSS
0%
Percentile
3.1
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using removable media. In pam_usb 0.9.1 and earlier, usb_get_process_parent_id() can cause an infinite loop DoS because it does not initialize *ppid on failure. In pusb_local_login(), the same variable is reused as input and output in a process-tree while loop; if /proc/<pid>/stat cannot be read (for example, when an ancestor process exits during authentication), the PID is not updated and the loop does not terminate. This hangs the authenticating process (such as sudo, sshd, or login) until it is forcibly terminated. This issue has been fixed in version 0.9.2.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
4.7 · MEDIUM
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00141 · 3.1th percentile
Weakness
CWE-835 · Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')
Published
2026-06-18T17:20Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 18 JUN 17:20Z
    pam_usb: Infinite loop DoS in process-tree walk when parent process exits during authentication
    cvelistv5