CVE-2019-13272
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 7.8 High
- Published
- Jul 17, 2019
- Updated
- Oct 21, 2025
- Reserved
- Jul 4, 2019
Description
In the Linux kernel before 5.1.17, ptrace_link in kernel/ptrace.c mishandles the recording of the credentials of a process that wants to create a ptrace relationship, which allows local users to obtain root access by leveraging certain scenarios with a parent-child process relationship, where a parent drops privileges and calls execve (potentially allowing control by an attacker). One contributing factor is an object lifetime issue (which can also cause a panic). Another contributing factor is incorrect marking of a ptrace relationship as privileged, which is exploitable through (for example) Polkit's pkexec helper with PTRACE_TRACEME. NOTE: SELinux deny_ptrace might be a usable workaround in some environments.
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 7.8 High | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H | CISA-ADP |
Weaknesses
The record names no weakness.
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
n/an/a |
|
References
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153663/Linux-PTRACE_TRACEME-Broken-Permission-Object-Lifetime-Handling.html
- https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1903
- https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.1.17
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/6994eefb0053799d2e07cd140df6c2ea106c41ee
- https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6994eefb0053799d2e07cd140df6c2ea106c41ee
- https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1140671
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1730895
- FEDORA-2019-a95015e60fvendor-advisory
- DSA-4484vendor-advisory
- 20190722 [SECURITY] [DSA 4484-1] linux security updatemailing-list
- 20190722 [slackware-security] Slackware 14.2 kernel (SSA:2019-202-01)mailing-list
- [debian-lts-announce] 20190723 [SECURITY] [DLA 1862-1] linux security updatemailing-list
- [debian-lts-announce] 20190723 [SECURITY] [DLA 1863-1] linux-4.9 security updatemailing-list
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153702/Slackware-Security-Advisory-Slackware-14.2-kernel-Updates.html
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190806-0001/
- RHSA-2019:2405vendor-advisory
- RHSA-2019:2411vendor-advisory
- USN-4093-1vendor-advisory
- USN-4094-1vendor-advisory
- USN-4095-1vendor-advisory
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154245/Kernel-Live-Patch-Security-Notice-LSN-0054-1.html
- https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K91025336
- USN-4117-1vendor-advisory
- USN-4118-1vendor-advisory
- RHSA-2019:2809vendor-advisory
- https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K91025336?utm_source=f5support&%3Butm_medium=RSS
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154957/Linux-Polkit-pkexec-Helper-PTRACE_TRACEME-Local-Root.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156929/Linux-PTRACE_TRACEME-Local-Root.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/165051/Linux-Kernel-5.1.x-PTRACE_TRACEME-pkexec-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2019-13272government-resource
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