CVE-2026-48982 (GCVE-0-2026-48982)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-06-18 19:01 – Updated: 2026-06-22 17:16
VLAI
EPSS
VEX
Title
pam_usb: Missing O_EXCL on pad temp file creation allows concurrent update race
Summary
pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. In versions prior to 0.9.2, when updating a one-time pad file, a temporary file is created using open() without the O_EXCL flag. Without O_EXCL, the create operation is not atomic: two concurrent processes racing to update the same pad may both succeed in opening the file, with the second write silently overwriting the first. The one-time pad is the core replay-prevention mechanism of pam_usb. A successful race could result in the stored pad value diverging from what either process expected, potentially causing authentication failures or, in a precisely timed attack, creating a window for pad reuse. This issue has been fixed in version 0.9.2.
Severity
5.8 (Medium)
SSVC
Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical Impact: partial
CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)
Decision recorded 2026-06-22 15:35 UTC
CWE
- CWE-362 - Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
Assigner
References
2 references
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/security/adviso… | x_refsource_CONFIRM |
| https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/releases/tag/0.9.2 | x_refsource_MISC |
Impacted products
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Experimental. This forecast is provided for visualization only and may change without notice. Do not use it for operational decisions.
Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
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The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the
vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base
model, served locally by ML-Gateway.
They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.
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Related by attack behaviour
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