pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. In versions prior to 0.9.2, when updating a one-time pad file, a temporary file is created using open() without the O_EXCL flag. Without O_EXCL, the create operation is not atomic: two concurrent processes racing to update the same pad may both succeed in opening the file, with the second write silently overwriting the first. The one-time pad is the core replay-prevention mechanism of pam_usb. A successful race could result in the stored pad value diverging from what either process expected, potentially causing authentication failures or, in a precisely timed attack, creating a window for pad reuse. This issue has been fixed in version 0.9.2.
CVE-2026-48982
This medium-severity CVE scores 5.8 under a secondary CVSS source (NVD's own analysis pending). EPSS exploit probability: 0.1%, top 100% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 5.8
- EG Score
- 5.8(medium)
- EPSS
- 0.5%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
June 18, 2026
Last Modified
June 22, 2026
Advisory Details (2)
Auto-updated Jun 18, 2026Missing O_EXCL on pad temp file creation allows concurrent update race · Advisory · mcdope/pam_usb · GitHub
https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/security/advisories/GHSA-hxh6-9574-5vp60.9.2 — Security Hardening Release
Patch available: mcdope/pam_usb 0.9.2
https://github.com/mcdope/pam_usb/releases/tag/0.9.2Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 14× in last 7d / 43× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
- 2026-07-13 22:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 21:51 UTCEG score recompute
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- 2026-07-07 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-06 16:27 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-05 02:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 21:39 UTCEG score recompute
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- 2026-07-02 21:39 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-01 21:38 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-30 21:38 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-29 21:35 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-29 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-29 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 21:35 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-28 04:56 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-27 21:35 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-27 03:08 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-26 21:35 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-25 21:34 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-24 21:34 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-23 21:34 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-23 21:33 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:33 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-22 21:33 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-21 21:29 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-20 21:27 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-19 21:26 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-18 21:22 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-18 21:22 UTCNVD updatefirst tracked
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