CVE-2026-47270 (GCVE-0-2026-47270)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-05-27 20:10 – Updated: 2026-05-27 20:10
VLAI
Title
pam_usb: strtok() race condition in multi-threaded PAM hosts can corrupt deny_remote result
Summary
pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. Prior to 0.9.0, pam_usb is a PAM module loaded into the host process (sudo, login, GDM, GNOME Shell). Display managers such as GDM run multiple concurrent authentication threads. Three functions used by the deny_remote feature called the non-reentrant strtok(), which stores state in a single global pointer. If two authentications race, one thread's strtok() call can overwrite the other's in-progress tokenisation pointer, causing incorrect parsing of the tmux session data or the /proc environ scan that backs the remote-session detection logic. Additionally, pusb_tmux_get_client_tty() passed the raw pointer returned by getenv(TMUX) directly to strtok(). getenv() returns a pointer into the live process environment block; strtok() inserts NUL bytes into that block, permanently corrupting the TMUX variable for subsequent code running in the same process. In long-lived display managers this affects all future authentications in that process. The combined effect can cause deny_remote=true to return an incorrect decision for a remote session, or an incorrect decision for a local session, depending on thread interleaving. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.0.
CWE
  • CWE-362 - Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
Assigner
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
mcdope pam_usb Affected: < 0.9.0
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Show details on NVD website

{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "product": "pam_usb",
          "vendor": "mcdope",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "\u003c 0.9.0"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. Prior to 0.9.0, pam_usb is a PAM module loaded into the host process (sudo, login, GDM, GNOME Shell). Display managers such as GDM run multiple concurrent authentication threads. Three functions used by the deny_remote feature called the non-reentrant strtok(), which stores state in a single global pointer. If two authentications race, one thread\u0027s strtok() call can overwrite the other\u0027s in-progress tokenisation pointer, causing incorrect parsing of the tmux session data or the /proc environ scan that backs the remote-session detection logic. Additionally, pusb_tmux_get_client_tty() passed the raw pointer returned by getenv(TMUX) directly to strtok(). getenv() returns a pointer into the live process environment block; strtok() inserts NUL bytes into that block, permanently corrupting the TMUX variable for subsequent code running in the same process. In long-lived display managers this affects all future authentications in that process. The combined effect can cause deny_remote=true to return an incorrect decision for a remote session, or an incorrect decision for a local session, depending on thread interleaving. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.0."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "attackComplexity": "HIGH",
            "attackVector": "LOCAL",
            "availabilityImpact": "NONE",
            "baseScore": 6.3,
            "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
            "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
            "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
            "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
            "scope": "UNCHANGED",
            "userInteraction": "NONE",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N",
            "version": "3.1"
          }
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-362",
              "description": "CWE-362: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization (\u0027Race Condition\u0027)",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-05-27T20:10:37.108Z",
        "orgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
        "shortName": "GitHub_M"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/security/advisories/GHSA-j3xw-vc43-x7jg",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_CONFIRM"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/security/advisories/GHSA-j3xw-vc43-x7jg"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/commit/94f1640a61d49dfaf38e782680a52f01d5bf8b51",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/commit/94f1640a61d49dfaf38e782680a52f01d5bf8b51"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/commit/d003e551b794a9e3774ff4720830fb7aadaa48bd",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/commit/d003e551b794a9e3774ff4720830fb7aadaa48bd"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "advisory": "GHSA-j3xw-vc43-x7jg",
        "discovery": "UNKNOWN"
      },
      "title": "pam_usb: strtok() race condition in multi-threaded PAM hosts can corrupt deny_remote result"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
    "assignerShortName": "GitHub_M",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-47270",
    "datePublished": "2026-05-27T20:10:37.108Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-05-18T23:03:37.229Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-05-27T20:10:37.108Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2",
  "vulnerability-lookup:meta": {
    "nvd": "{\"cve\":{\"id\":\"CVE-2026-47270\",\"sourceIdentifier\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"published\":\"2026-05-27T21:16:18.950\",\"lastModified\":\"2026-05-27T21:16:18.950\",\"vulnStatus\":\"Received\",\"cveTags\":[],\"descriptions\":[{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. Prior to 0.9.0, pam_usb is a PAM module loaded into the host process (sudo, login, GDM, GNOME Shell). Display managers such as GDM run multiple concurrent authentication threads. Three functions used by the deny_remote feature called the non-reentrant strtok(), which stores state in a single global pointer. If two authentications race, one thread\u0027s strtok() call can overwrite the other\u0027s in-progress tokenisation pointer, causing incorrect parsing of the tmux session data or the /proc environ scan that backs the remote-session detection logic. Additionally, pusb_tmux_get_client_tty() passed the raw pointer returned by getenv(TMUX) directly to strtok(). getenv() returns a pointer into the live process environment block; strtok() inserts NUL bytes into that block, permanently corrupting the TMUX variable for subsequent code running in the same process. In long-lived display managers this affects all future authentications in that process. The combined effect can cause deny_remote=true to return an incorrect decision for a remote session, or an incorrect decision for a local session, depending on thread interleaving. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.0.\"}],\"metrics\":{\"cvssMetricV31\":[{\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"type\":\"Secondary\",\"cvssData\":{\"version\":\"3.1\",\"vectorString\":\"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N\",\"baseScore\":6.3,\"baseSeverity\":\"MEDIUM\",\"attackVector\":\"LOCAL\",\"attackComplexity\":\"HIGH\",\"privilegesRequired\":\"LOW\",\"userInteraction\":\"NONE\",\"scope\":\"UNCHANGED\",\"confidentialityImpact\":\"HIGH\",\"integrityImpact\":\"HIGH\",\"availabilityImpact\":\"NONE\"},\"exploitabilityScore\":1.0,\"impactScore\":5.2}]},\"weaknesses\":[{\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"type\":\"Primary\",\"description\":[{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"CWE-362\"}]}],\"references\":[{\"url\":\"https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/commit/94f1640a61d49dfaf38e782680a52f01d5bf8b51\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\"},{\"url\":\"https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/commit/d003e551b794a9e3774ff4720830fb7aadaa48bd\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\"},{\"url\":\"https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/security/advisories/GHSA-j3xw-vc43-x7jg\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\"}]}}"
  }
}


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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.

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