CVE-2025-6018

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.

CVSS: 7.8Highscored by the publisher (CNA)
Exploited in the wild: Not knownPublic exploit code; not in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.1%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 34% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
Fix: Not stated by the vendorno fixed release in the CVE record
Published: 23 Jul 2025analysed here 12 Nov 2026

Summary

Triage

Attack surface: Server-side
Exploitable: At runtime
Attack vector: local
Weakness: CWE-863 Incorrect Authorization
Can a WAF block it?: No. See why

The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.

Affected products

Products named in our analysis

suse:pam-config

Fix and mitigation

WAF and other mitigations

Can a WAF block it? No. The attack needs local access to the machine, so a WAF is not on its path.

Also consider: patch · per-resource ACL

Based on the attack vector (local or physical access). We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.

Remediation steps (AI-written)

Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.

Exploitation evidence

CISA KEV catalog: Not listed as of our last sync.
Public exploit code: Yes: 1 on Exploit-DB · 14 GitHub proofs of concept
CISA SSVC: exploitation poc, automatable no, technical impact totalAssessed by CISA 23 Jul 2025 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.

Exploit-DB

Linux PAM Environment - Variable Injection Local Privilege Escalationlocal, 28 Jul 2025

GitHub proofs of concept

MichaelVenturella/CVE-2025-6018-6019-PoC16 stars
muyuanlove/CVE-2025-6018-CVE-2025-6019-Privilege-Escalation-Exploit12 stars
dreysanox/CVE-2025-6018_Poc6 stars
DesertDemons/CVE-2025-6018-60195 stars

and 10 more repositories

Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.

Timeline

3 Jul 2025First public exploit or proof of concept
23 Jul 2025CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation poc21 days later
23 Jul 2025Publishedsame day later
4 Nov 2026CVE record last updated469 days (about 1 year) later
12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com8 days later

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Metric	Value	What it means
Attack vector	LocalLocal access required (shell, logged-in user).	Local access required (shell, logged-in user).
Attack complexity	LowRepeatable attack, no special conditions.	Repeatable attack, no special conditions.
Privileges required	LowThe attacker needs basic user privileges.	The attacker needs basic user privileges.
User interaction	NoneNo victim action needed.	No victim action needed.
Scope	UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.	Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality	HighTotal data disclosure possible.	Total data disclosure possible.
Integrity	HighComplete modification possible.	Complete modification possible.
Availability	HighFull outage possible.	Full outage possible.

Common questions

Is CVE-2025-6018 being exploited?

Not confirmed. CVE-2025-6018 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 1.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How severe is CVE-2025-6018?

CVE-2025-6018 is rated High with a CVSS score of 7.8. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.

Is there a patch for CVE-2025-6018?

Not known from our data. No patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2025-6018, which is not the same as no patch existing — a fix may have shipped without a tagged reference, or after this record was written. The vendor advisory is the only authority on whether a fix exists, and mitigations may be available regardless.

What does CVE-2025-6018 affect?

CVE-2025-6018 affects suse:pam-config. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.

Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.

References

NVD CVE.org CVE Details Source

5 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.

Where the data on this page comes from

CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
NVD: CVSS and CPE data
CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
Exploit-DB: published exploits
PoC-in-GitHub: GitHub repositories that claim a proof of concept

Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.

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