Draft in the CWE catalog · 10 CVEs mapped
Sensitive memory is cleared according to the source code, but compiler optimizations leave the memory untouched when it is not read from again, aka "dead store removal."
pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. In versions 0.9.1 and below, the xfree() memory release helper in calls free() without first zeroing the buffer contents, releasing heap-allocated buffers containing sensitive data — including one-time pad bytes read from disk — without clearing, leaving the sensitive content in freed heap memory until it happens to be overwritten by a subsequent allocation. On a system where a use-after-free condition exists, or where a heap inspection primitive becomes available, this could allow recovery of pad values or other authentication material from freed memory regions. This is a defence-in-depth requirement consistent with prior hardening work in this codebase (GHSA-vx6f-rrqr-j87c applied explicit_bzero to some pad paths; this issue generalises the pattern to the central deallocation helper).
IBM Concert 1.0.0 through 2.2.0 could allow an attacker to access sensitive information in memory due to the buffer not properly clearing resources.
Compiler removal of buffer clearing in sli_se_driver_mac_compute in Silicon Labs Gecko Platform SDK v4.2.1 and earlier results in key material duplication to RAM.