Skip to content
Sign in
7.8 High

CVE-2025-6018 Pam-config: lpe from unprivileged to allow_active in pam

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 detail

Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitable with local access to the machine, with an ordinary account and without any user action; an attacker can seriously compromise confidentiality, integrity or availability.

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Affected products and versions

Product Affected versions Fixed in
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Versions not published
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Versions not published
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Versions not published
Red Hat In-Vehicle Operating System 1 Versions not published

Other CVEs of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

The 1501 CVEs of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 →
CVE-2026-120749 Dbus: dbus-daemon: dbus-daemon aborts (reply_serial != 0) when a broadcast from the driver cannot be delivered to a monitored bus 6.2 Medium CVE-2026-123151 Gdb: gdb: stack buffer overflow in parse_tsv_definition via stale rs->buf tail Not rated CVE-2026-121997 Gdb: gdbserver: heap buffer overflow in cmd_qtdpsrc via qtdpsrc declared/actual length mismatch 8.1 High CVE-2026-121996 Gdb: gdbserver: heap disclosure and wild pointer in gdb_parse_agent_expr via untrusted agent-expression length 8.2 High
Track this CVE