CVE-2026-48981
6.7 · MEDIUMOverview
CVE-2026-48981 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on June 18, 2026 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.7 (MEDIUM).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.7, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.
Technical Description
pam_usb provides hardware authentication for Linux using ordinary removable media. In versions prior to 0.9.2, pam_usb calls xmlReadFile() with flags=0 when loading the configuration file, allowing libxml2 to process external entity references (XXE), potentially making outbound network connections or local file reads at XML parse time from the context of the authenticating process. The vulnerability requires the configuration file to contain crafted XML entity references. Since pam_usb.conf is root-owned, direct exploitation requires prior write access to the config, but the defence-in-depth impact is significant given that pam_usb.so runs in setuid contexts (sudo, su). This issue has been fixed in version 0.9.2.
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2026-48981?
CVE-2026-48981 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on June 18, 2026 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.7 (MEDIUM).
How severe is CVE-2026-48981?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.7, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2026-48981?
Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2026-48981?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2026-48981 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
How CyberStrike Helps
AI agents map your attack surface to find vulnerabilities like this one.
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