PAM-PKCS#11 is a Linux-PAM login module that allows a X.509 certificate based user login. Prior to version 0.6.13, if cert_policy is set to none (the default value), then pam_pkcs11 will only check if the user is capable of logging into the token. An attacker may create a different token with the user's public data (e.g. the user's certificate) and a PIN known to the attacker. If no signature with the private key is required, then the attacker may now login as user with that created token. The default to *not* check the private key's signature has been changed with commit commi6638576892b59a99389043c90a1e7dd4d783b921, so that all versions starting with pam_pkcs11-0.6.0 should be affected. As a workaround, in `pam_pkcs11.conf`, set at least `cert_policy = signature;`.
CVSS Details
- CVSS 4.0 Base Score: 9.2 (CRITICAL)
- CVSS 4.0 Vector: (CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X)
Covered by Rapid7
| Product | Vendor Advisory | Solution File | Added | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debian | — | Upgrade pam-pkcs11 | Feb 14, 2025 | Feb 10, 2025 |
| Redhat_linux | — | No solution exists | Jul 9, 2025 | Feb 10, 2025 |
| Suse | — | Upgrade pam_pkcs11-32bitUpgrade pam_pkcs11Upgrade pam_pkcs11-devel-doc | Mar 3, 2025 | Feb 10, 2025 |
| Ubuntu | — | Upgrade libpam-pkcs11 (Ubuntu Pro)Upgrade libpam-pkcs11 | Mar 21, 2025 | Feb 10, 2025 |
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