CVE-2026-48985

pam_usb (Linux hardware authentication) contains a NULL dereference in pusb_is_loginctl_local() when parsing loginctl output in versions ≤ 0.9.1. If the Remote field is just a newline, strtok_r(...) returns NULL and a subsequent strcmp(is_remote, "no") dereferences NULL, causing undefined behavio...

CVE-2026-48985 pam_usb: NULL Dereference Crash in pusb_is_loginctl_local when loginctl Returns Empty Remote Field

pamusb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. In versions 0.9.1 and below, pusbisloginctllocal can cause a NULL dereference crash when parsing loginctl output. The function calls popen and reads the result; if the Remote field is only a newline, fgets succeeds...