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High · 8.1 CVE-2026-48064 EUVD-2026-32650

pam_usb: PAM_RHOST check skipped when deny_remote=false allows XDMCP authentication bypass

Published May 27, 2026 · Updated Jun 2, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

Description

pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. Prior to 0.9.1, when a PAM service is configured with deny_remote=false in pam_usb (commonly done for display managers such as gdm-password or lightdm to bypass process/TTY heuristics for local sessions), the PAM_RHOST check in pusb_do_auth() is also skipped. PAM_RHOST is set by remote daemons (sshd, XDMCP servers) to identify the remote client address. Because the check is gated inside if (opts.deny_remote), a genuine remote XDMCP connection reaches the USB device authentication step instead of being rejected. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.1.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
mcdope pam_usb < 0.9.1 —

References