Description
pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using removable media. From version 0.8.0 to before version 0.9.3, the deny_remote feature in pam_usb uses /usr/bin/w -i to detect whether the authenticating user has an active remote tmux session. In pusb_tmux_has_remote_clients() (src/tmux.c), the IPv6 detection pattern matched the address group and then immediately expected whitespace. On Linux systems with multi-homed network interfaces, w -i appends a zone index (scope identifier) to link-local IPv6 addresses — e.g. fe80::1%eth0. The %eth0 suffix appeared between the address and the next whitespace field, causing the regex match to fail even for an otherwise-matching remote session. The function returned "no remote clients" and granted access. This issue has been patched in version 0.9.3.
Metrics
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:NWeakness enumeration
Affected software
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| mcdope | pam_usb | >= 0.8.0, < 0.9.3 |
References
Timeline
- Published
- Nov 11, 2026
- Last modified
- Nov 12, 2026
- NVD status
- Deferred