CVE-2025-6018
A Local Privilege Escalation (LPE) vulnerability has been discovered in pam-config within Linux Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM).
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (1.02%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
A Local Privilege Escalation (LPE) vulnerability has been discovered in pam-config within Linux Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM). This flaw allows an unprivileged local attacker (for example, a user logged in via SSH) to obtain the elevated privileges normally reserved for a physically present, "allow_active" user. The highest risk is that the attacker can then perform all allow_active yes Polkit actions, which are typically restricted to console users, potentially gaining unauthorized control over system configurations, services, or other sensitive operations.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 1.02% probability · 61th percentile
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-863
- Affected
- suse/pam-config
- Source
- secalert@redhat.com
References
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-6018Third Party Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2372693Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
- https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1243226Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://cdn2.qualys.com/2025/06/17/suse15-pam-udisks-lpe.txtExploit, Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/08/28/4
- https://cdn2.qualys.com/2025/06/17/suse15-pam-udisks-lpe.txtExploit, Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.