Linux-pam: incomplete fix for cve-2025-6020
A flaw was found in linux-pam. The pam_namespace module may improperly handle user-controlled paths, allowing local users to exploit symlink attacks and race conditions to elevate their privileges to root. This CVE provides a "complete" fix for CVE-2025-6020.
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for the hundreds of thousands of vulnerabilities in the database; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for help- Published
- Aug 13, 2025
- Updated
- Jun 17, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.3% · 17th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-22
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Report tools
Action score
31
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.3%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- total
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- —
- CNA · redhat
- 7.8
- NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Affected systems
—
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (redhat). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
github.com/linux-pam/linux-pam linux-pam
- all versionsunknown
Red Hat cert-manager operator for Red Hat OpenShift 1.16
- sha256:330e8b5ab4841a21f8f5f23cc7fb192197872f11639b12bf4b1e70831f636323 and laternot affected · rpm
Red Hat Compliance Operator 1
- sha256:c953e9f9abf9cf25bf65bb3ffdc86ccf49b3e69a1cf3fbb47b6972e421fd6628 and laternot affected · rpm
Red Hat Red Hat Discovery 2
- sha256:c85cfbcaf7888885e57596b7b8bde3894718cfc33326499b24961a66a62cf083 and laternot affected · rpm
Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support
- 0:1.1.8-23.el7_9.2 and laternot affected · rpm
Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 and laternot affected · rpm
Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Advanced Update Support
- 0:1.3.1-8.el8_2.2 and laternot affected · rpm
Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support
- 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.2 and laternot affected · rpm
Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-On
- 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.2 and laternot affected · rpm
Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support
- 0:1.3.1-16.el8_6.3 and laternot affected · rpm
Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Telecommunications Update Service
- 0:1.3.1-16.el8_6.3 and laternot affected · rpm
Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Update Services for SAP Solutions
- 0:1.3.1-16.el8_6.3 and laternot affected · rpm
Package-level exposure
OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| AlmaLinux:9 | pam | before 1.5.1-26.el9_6 | 1.5.1-26.el9_6 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | pam-devel | before 1.5.1-26.el9_6 | 1.5.1-26.el9_6 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | pam-docs | before 1.5.1-26.el9_6 | 1.5.1-26.el9_6 |
| Debian:12 | pam | all versions | — |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | pam | before 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 | 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | pam-debuginfo | before 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 | 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | pam-debugsource | before 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 | 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | pam-devel | before 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 | 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | pam-debuginfo | before 0:1.5.1-26.el9_6 | 0:1.5.1-26.el9_6 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | pam-debugsource | before 0:1.5.1-26.el9_6 | 0:1.5.1-26.el9_6 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | pam-devel | before 0:1.5.1-26.el9_6 | 0:1.5.1-26.el9_6 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | pam-docs | before 0:1.5.1-26.el9_6 | 0:1.5.1-26.el9_6 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::baseos | pam | before 0:1.5.1-26.el9_6 | 0:1.5.1-26.el9_6 |
| Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.2::baseos | pam | before 0:1.3.1-8.el8_2.2 | 0:1.3.1-8.el8_2.2 |
| Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.2::baseos | pam-debuginfo | before 0:1.3.1-8.el8_2.2 | 0:1.3.1-8.el8_2.2 |
| Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.2::baseos | pam-debugsource | before 0:1.3.1-8.el8_2.2 | 0:1.3.1-8.el8_2.2 |
| Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.2::baseos | pam-devel | before 0:1.3.1-8.el8_2.2 | 0:1.3.1-8.el8_2.2 |
| Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.4::baseos | pam | before 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.2 | 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.2 |
| Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.4::baseos | pam-debuginfo | before 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.2 | 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.2 |
| Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.4::baseos | pam-debugsource | before 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.2 | 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.2 |
| Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.4::baseos | pam-devel | before 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.2 | 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.2 |
| Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.6::baseos | pam | before 0:1.3.1-16.el8_6.3 | 0:1.3.1-16.el8_6.3 |
| Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.6::baseos | pam-debuginfo | before 0:1.3.1-16.el8_6.3 | 0:1.3.1-16.el8_6.3 |
| Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.6::baseos | pam-debugsource | before 0:1.3.1-16.el8_6.3 | 0:1.3.1-16.el8_6.3 |
+25
Same product
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- CVE-2025-0624Grub2: net: out-of-bounds write in grub_net_search_config_file()30Monitor
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Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
| Product / package | Fixed version | Source |
|---|---|---|
| almalinux:pam | 1.5.1-26.el9_6 · AlmaLinux:9 | Package registry (OSV) |
| almalinux:pam-devel | 1.5.1-26.el9_6 · AlmaLinux:9 | Package registry (OSV) |
| almalinux:pam-docs | 1.5.1-26.el9_6 · AlmaLinux:9 | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:pam | 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:pam-debuginfo | 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:pam-debugsource | 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:pam-devel | 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:pam-docs | 0:1.5.1-26.el9_6 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | Package registry (OSV) |
| rocky linux:pam | 0:1.3.1-38.el8_10 · Rocky Linux:8 | Package registry (OSV) |
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
- A low-privileged account is enough.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- high · data can be read
- Integrity
- high · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Local
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
nvd-secondary
Root cause
A user-supplied file name is joined with the allowed directory, but the result is never checked to confirm it is still inside that directory.
The bug in code
The whole CWE-22 classA representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.
Vulnerable
const file = path.join(ROOT, req.query.name);res.sendFile(file);Fixed
const file = path.resolve(ROOT, req.query.name);if (!file.startsWith(ROOT + path.sep)) { return res.sendStatus(400);}res.sendFile(file);Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Attack patterns (CAPEC)
- Path TraversalCAPEC-126likelihood: High · Very High
- Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation LogicCAPEC-64likelihood: High · High
- Manipulating Web Input to File System CallsCAPEC-76likelihood: High · Very High
- Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate EncodingCAPEC-78likelihood: High · High
- Using Slashes in Alternate EncodingCAPEC-79likelihood: High · High
ATT&CK techniques
—
Change log
- Fix✗ → ✓
For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →
References
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15100
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:14557
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15099
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15101
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15102
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15103
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15104
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15105
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15106
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15107
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15709
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15827
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15828
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:16524
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:17181
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:18219
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:21885
- access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-8941
- bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2388220
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.