{"id":76024,"date":"2025-09-20T16:12:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T16:12:25","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-11-01T05:38:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T11:38:03","slug":"cve-2025-6018-local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-linux-pam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6018-local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-linux-pam\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-6018: Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in Linux PAM<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the constantly evolving landscape of cybersecurity, a new vulnerability has emerged that poses a significant risk to the Linux ecosystem. Identified as CVE-2025-6018, this vulnerability is a Local Privilege Escalation (LPE) flaw found in pam-config within the Linux Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM). It has the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-9253-stack-based-buffer-overflow-on-linksys-wi-fi-range-extenders-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"84306\">potential to compromise the security of an entire system<\/a>, affecting any unprivileged local attacker who can exploit it to gain unauthorized control over system configurations, services, or other sensitive operations.<br \/>\nThe widespread use of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6297-exploitation-of-dpkg-deb-extraction-vulnerability\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"91994\">Linux<\/a> systems across various sectors, from personal computing to enterprise-level applications, makes this vulnerability particularly sinister. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-9791-critical-vulnerability-in-tenda-ac20-16-03-08-05-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"84992\">potential for system<\/a> compromise or data leakage is immense, and hence, it is of paramount importance that this vulnerability is understood and mitigated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-6018<br \/>\nSeverity: High, CVSS score 7.8<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Local<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: Low<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-27215-unauthorized-system-modification-vulnerability-in-unifi-display-cast-devices\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"84888\">Unauthorized system<\/a> control, potential system compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-2949279036\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 700px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 8px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 40px; height: 40px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    A new way to communicate\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 12px;\">\r\n    Ameeba Chat is built on encrypted identity, not personal profiles.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 16px;\">\r\n    Message, call, share files, and coordinate with identities kept separate.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\r\n    <li>\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Ameeba Chat authenticates access<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Aliases and categories<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, and files<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Secure notes for sensitive information<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\r\n    Private communication, rethought.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Download Ameeba Chat<\/a>\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Learn More<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>Linux Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) | Versions prior to patch release<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vulnerability in question exists in the pam-config of the Linux PAM. It allows an unprivileged local attacker, such as a user logged in via SSH, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-27216-privilege-escalation-in-uisp-application-due-to-incorrect-permission-assignment\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"84367\">escalate their privileges<\/a> to the level of a physically present, &#8220;allow_active&#8221; user. This means that they can perform all &#8220;allow_active yes&#8221; Polkit actions, which are typically restricted to console users.<br \/>\nBy exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker can potentially gain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-7051-unauthorized-access-and-manipulation-of-syslog-configuration-in-n-central\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"84587\">unauthorized control over system configurations<\/a>, services, or other sensitive operations. The consequence of this can range from system instability to full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-22404-potential-system-compromise-due-to-use-after-free-vulnerability\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"85690\">system compromise<\/a>, with the potential for data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-758316130\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Given the nature of this vulnerability, a simple shell command can be used to demonstrate how it might be exploited.<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">user@host:~$ ssh target_host\nuser@target_host&#039;s password:\nuser@target_host:~$ echo &#039;exploit_code&#039; | sudo -S pam-config --add --allow_active=yes<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>This example is purely conceptual and does not contain actual exploit code. It merely demonstrates how an attacker might use SSH to access the target system and then attempt to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-7775-critical-memory-overflow-vulnerability-in-netscaler-adc-and-gateway-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"83822\">escalate their privileges<\/a> via sudo and the vulnerable pam-config.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Countermeasures<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The most effective countermeasure against this vulnerability is to apply the vendor-supplied patch as soon as it is available. In the meantime, the use of a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation measure, helping to detect and prevent potential exploit attempts. Regular <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6791-sql-injection-vulnerability-in-centreon-web-monitoring-event-logs-module\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"84088\">monitoring and auditing of system logs<\/a> can also aid in early detection of any unusual activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview In the constantly evolving landscape of cybersecurity, a new vulnerability has emerged that poses a significant risk to the Linux ecosystem. Identified as CVE-2025-6018, this vulnerability is a Local Privilege Escalation (LPE) flaw found in pam-config within the Linux Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM). It has the potential to compromise the security of an entire [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[88],"product":[],"attack_vector":[76],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-76024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","vendor-linux","attack_vector-privilege-escalation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76024"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85199,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76024\/revisions\/85199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76024"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=76024"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=76024"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=76024"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=76024"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=76024"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=76024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}