7.8
HIGH CVSS 3.1
CVE-2025-6018
Linux PAM pam-config Local Privilege Escalation
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.

INFO

Published Date :

July 23, 2025, 3:15 p.m.

Last Modified :

July 25, 2025, 3:29 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

No
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2025-6018 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

No affected product recoded yet

CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 HIGH [email protected]
Solution
This addresses a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the PAM configuration that could allow unauthorized users to gain elevated privileges.
  • Update the affected pam-config, pam_pkcs11, and related packages to resolve the local privilege escalation vulnerability.
  • Reboot the system if required by the package update process.
Public PoC/Exploit Available at Github

CVE-2025-6018 has a 7 public PoC/Exploit available at Github. Go to the Public Exploits tab to see the list.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2025-6018 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2025-6018 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

CVE-2025-6018

Python

Updated: 3 weeks, 4 days ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : July 30, 2025, 10:03 p.m. This repo has been linked 2 different CVEs too.

Contains List of CVE's that I have found (Individual + Collaborative work)

Updated: 1 week, 4 days ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : July 28, 2025, 1:07 p.m. This repo has been linked 106 different CVEs too.

CVE-2025-6018 Poc and Exploit

Python

Updated: 4 weeks, 1 day ago
1 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : July 24, 2025, 9:01 p.m. This repo has been linked 1 different CVEs too.

None

Updated: 1 week, 3 days ago
1 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : July 23, 2025, 11:54 a.m. This repo has been linked 88 different CVEs too.

一个 CVE 漏洞预警知识库,无 exp/poc,部分包含修复方案。A knowledge base of CVE security vulnerability, no PoCs/exploits.

Updated: 6 days, 22 hours ago
134 stars 18 fork 18 watcher
Born at : Jan. 5, 2023, 2:19 a.m. This repo has been linked 195 different CVEs too.

Config files for my GitHub profile.

config github-config

Updated: 1 week, 5 days ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : Sept. 7, 2021, 4:22 a.m. This repo has been linked 30 different CVEs too.

📡 PoC auto collect from GitHub. ⚠️ Be careful Malware.

security cve exploit poc vulnerability

Updated: 23 hours, 18 minutes ago
7210 stars 1199 fork 1199 watcher
Born at : Dec. 8, 2019, 1:03 p.m. This repo has been linked 806 different CVEs too.

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2025-6018 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2025-6018 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Jul. 23, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added 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.
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    Added CWE CWE-863
    Added Reference https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-6018
    Added Reference https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2372693
    Added Reference https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1243226
    Added Reference https://cdn2.qualys.com/2025/06/17/suse15-pam-udisks-lpe.txt
  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Jul. 23, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://cdn2.qualys.com/2025/06/17/suse15-pam-udisks-lpe.txt
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
Vulnerability Scoring Details
Base CVSS Score: 7.8
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality Impact
Integrity Impact
Availability Impact