CVE-2025-6020 | Linux-pam: linux-pam directory traversal

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.

Published: 2025-06-17 Last update: 2026-05-12 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-6020 is rated Low Risk (39/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-6020

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-13 0.02% 0.07% +0.05%
2 2025-06-18 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-6020

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-6020

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-6020

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-6020 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (pam), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-6020
gentoo high CVE-2025-6020: 1 GLSA(s) (202508-01), 1 atom(s) (sys-libs/pam); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2025-6020
redhat high https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-6020
suse high CVE-2025-6020 severity important: SUSE including 313 source package names (0.0.17-1.1:pam-1.3.0-150000.6.83.1, 0.23.1-11.3:pam-1.3.0-150000.6.83.1, …), 717 product×package rows across 359 product lines (Container bci/kiwi, Container bci/spack, … (359 product lines)): Fixed 486, Known Affected 231. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-6020/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-6020 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (pam), 10 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 5, released 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-6020

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-6020

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2025-6020

URL Tags
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:10024
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:10027
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:10180
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:10354
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:10357
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:10358
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:10359
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:10361
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:10362
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:10735
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:10823
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:11386
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:11487
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:14557
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15099
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15709
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15827
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:15828
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:16524
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:17181
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:18219
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:20181
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:21885
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22019
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:9526
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:0934
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-6020
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2372512
https://github.com/linux-pam/linux-pam/security/advisories/GHSA-f9p8-gjr4-j9gx
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/06/17/1
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/09/msg00021.html
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-577017.html
cvelogic Threat Intelligence