CVE-2025-6020 Linux-pam: linux-pam directory traversal
High 7.8
Published
Updated
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-6020 and fix it if it is affected.
What it is: CVE-2025-6020 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Red Hat Compliance Operator 1, published on 17 Jun 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-6020 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Affected product: Red Hat Compliance Operator 1. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.
Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.
Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-6020/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-6020/index.md)
Local attackers can exploit symlink race conditions in the pam_namespace module to elevate privileges to root on affected Linux systems.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-6020?
CVE-2025-6020 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Red Hat Compliance Operator 1, published on 17 Jun 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A flaw was found in linux-pam. The module pam_namespace may use access user-controlled paths without proper protection, allowing local users to elevate their privileges to root via multiple symlink attacks and race conditions.
Weakness: CWE-22
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-6020?
Linux distribution packages (40)
pam AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 1.6.1-8.el10 |
pam-devel AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 1.6.1-8.el10 |
pam-libs AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 1.6.1-8.el10 |
pam AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 1.3.1-37.el8_10 |
pam-devel AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 1.3.1-37.el8_10 |
pam AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 1.5.1-25.el9_6 |
pam-devel AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 1.5.1-25.el9_6 |
pam-docs AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 1.5.1-25.el9_6 |
pam Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:1.6.1-8.el10 |
pam-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:1.6.1-8.el10 |
pam-debugsource Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:1.6.1-8.el10 |
pam-devel Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:1.6.1-8.el10 |
pam-libs Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:1.6.1-8.el10 |
pam-libs-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:1.6.1-8.el10 |
pam Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:1.3.1-37.el8_10 |
pam-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:1.3.1-37.el8_10 |
pam-debugsource Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:1.3.1-37.el8_10 |
pam-devel Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 0:1.3.1-37.el8_10 |
pam-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:1.5.1-25.el9_6 |
pam-debugsource Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:1.5.1-25.el9_6 |
pam-devel Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:1.5.1-25.el9_6 |
pam-docs Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:1.5.1-25.el9_6 |
pam Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::baseos | All versions | 0:1.5.1-25.el9_6 |
pam-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::baseos | All versions | 0:1.5.1-25.el9_6 |
pam-debugsource Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::baseos | All versions | 0:1.5.1-25.el9_6 |
pam Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:1.6.1-8.el10_0 |
pam-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:1.6.1-8.el10_0 |
pam-debugsource Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:1.6.1-8.el10_0 |
pam-devel Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:1.6.1-8.el10_0 |
pam-libs Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:1.6.1-8.el10_0 |
pam-libs-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:1.6.1-8.el10_0 |
pam Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.2::baseos | All versions | 0:1.3.1-8.el8_2.1 |
pam-debuginfo Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.2::baseos | All versions | 0:1.3.1-8.el8_2.1 |
pam-debugsource Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.2::baseos | All versions | 0:1.3.1-8.el8_2.1 |
pam-devel Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.2::baseos | All versions | 0:1.3.1-8.el8_2.1 |
pam Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.4::baseos | All versions | 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.1 |
pam-debuginfo Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.4::baseos | All versions | 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.1 |
pam-debugsource Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.4::baseos | All versions | 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.1 |
pam-devel Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.4::baseos | All versions | 0:1.3.1-14.el8_4.1 |
pam Red Hat:rhel_aus:8.6::baseos | All versions | 0:1.3.1-16.el8_6.2 |
How do I fix CVE-2025-6020?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2025-6020 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-6020 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as ALSA-2025:10027, ALSA-2025:20181, ALSA-2025:9526, AZL-64113, AZL-64142, CLSA-2025-1752089633 and 38 more.