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CVE-2025-6018VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2025-6018: Incorrect Authorization

Source CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · public exploit available (Exploit-DB) · CVSS 7.8 High.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.8High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
1.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 65% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

t = 0 is the CVE’s publication on cve.org

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 23 Jul 2025

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  4. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

Timeline

  1. CVE ID reserved

    by redhat

    , 42 days before disclosure

  2. CVE published

    on cve.org

    , t = 0

  3. In Threat Radar

    record ingested

    , 19 minutes after disclosure

  4. First Exploit-DB entry (opens in a new tab)

    Linux PAM Environment - Variable Injection Local Privilege Escalation

    , 5 days after disclosure

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

What to do

AI-suggested

Until a patch or official fix is available, restrict local access to trusted users only and monitor for suspicious local activity related to Polkit actions.

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.

References

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