After Debian Trixie upgrade => pam login issues with Nitrokey Pro2 and Nitrokey 3 Neo

After upgrading from Debian Bookworm to Trixie (xfce4), I having several issues to login with pam(poldi) + Nitrokey Pro2 and Nitrokey3Neo.
It works very well after I start the Laptops on the first time.
If I use sudo after login, it wont work. It is directly asking for the password and don’t check any gpg-cards.
gpg --card-status doesn’t find any nitrokey.
But pcsc_scan -r found the readers.
After I add ~/.gnupg/scdaemon.con with:

disable-ccid
pcsc-shared

it works…, it works only up to the next locked screen.

Afterwards I lock the screen:
1st device (chromebook on from scratch installed Debian, upgraded from 12 to 13):

  • the login screen comes on
  • Displays: “insert auth. card for user $test”
    * but dont registered any Nitrokey
    => login with pam + Nitrokey ist not possible
    => only a restart can solve this up to the next locked screen
    2nd device (Lenovo x1 on from scratch installed Debian, upgraded from 12 to 13):
  • the login screen comes on
  • with inserted nitrokey before wakeup
    => a different login screen comes on (seems to be a special login for smarcards with pin)
    * Displays: “insert auth. card for user $test”
    => login with pam + Nitrokey is possible
  • without inserted nitrokey before wakeup
    => a different login screen comes and switches to the “normal” loginscreen
    * Displays: “insert auth. card for user $test”
    => login with pam + Nitrokey is not possible
    => only a restart can solve this up to the next locked screen
    * after this fail, it is not possible for the Laptop to known any nitrokey and not possible to login
    => sometimes the smartcardlogin screen comes on If I switched between some sessions and try to login on terminal and stiched back during the fail
    => but its not posible to enter the pin
    => it returns only to the “normal” login screen after some seconds

Did anyone have had the some issue and could solved it?

My configs with the same results:

only nitrokey

    nano /etc/pam.d/common-auth
    
        # Nitrokey auth
        auth      sufficient                    pam_poldi.so 
        # here are the per-package modules (the "Primary" block) 
        auth      [success=1 default=ignore]    pam_unix.so nullok_secure

multiple authentifications - eg yubikey or nitrokey

     # Nitrokey auth
        auth    sufficient                      pam_poldi.so
        # here are the per-package modules (the "Primary" block)
        auth    [success=1 default=ignore]      pam_unix.so nullok
        # heres the fallback if no module succeeds
        auth    requisite                       pam_deny.so
        # prime the stack with a positive return value if there isnt one already;
        # this avoids us returning an error just because nothing sets a success code
        # since the modules above will each just jump around
        # yubikey auth
        auth   required                         pam_yubico.so mode=challenge-response chalresp_path=/var/yubico

scdaemon.conf

    cat <<EOF > ~/.gnupg/scdaemon.conf
    disable-ccid
    pcsc-shared
    EOF

udev rules are the same from

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Nitrokey/nitrokey-udev-rules/main/41-nitrokey.rules

15.10.2025 Update:

I was able to solve these problems by installing xfce4-screenlocker, purgeing lightlocker and doing a restart.
Unfortunately I dont have the time to take a deeper look in it, because I think its really strange, that lightlocker breaks the pam login by “attaching” the key guard deamon, so that no other program can access the hardware key…

The different behavior between my to Notbooks comes because on the Lenovo x1 are lightlocker and xfce4-screenlocker installed and on the Chromebook only lightlocker.

If there is anyone how can explain the dependencies, please take 5 minutes and write your answer here.

Thank you