pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. Prior to 0.8.7, pamusb-pinentry reads the PINENTRY_FALLBACK_APP environment variable and executes it directly without any validation. Any process that can set environment variables before pamusb-pinentry is invoked can point PINENTRY_FALLBACK_APP at an arbitrary binary or script and have it executed with the privileges of the pam_usb tool chain. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.8.7.
Analyzing vulnerability vectors…