Bug 2372693 (CVE-2025-6018)

Summary: CVE-2025-6018 pam-config: LPE from unprivileged to allow_active in PAM
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: high Docs Contact:
Priority: high    
Version: unspecifiedCC: adudiak, kshier, omaciel, security-response-team, stcannon, yguenane
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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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.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:
Deadline: 2025-06-17   

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-06-13 14:36:40 UTC 
an LPE vulnerability (a Local Privilege Escalation) in the PAM configuration: an unprivileged local attacker (e.g., an attacker who logs in via sshd) can obtain the privileges of a physical "allow_active" user (i.e., a user who is physically sitting in front of the computer) and can therefore perform all the "allow_active yes" polkit actions that are normally reserved for physical users.