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UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2019-13272

Linux Kernel Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability

KEVHIGH 7.8EPSS 52.2%

Does this matter?

Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 10 June 2022). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.

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.

CVSS 3.1
7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS
52.20% probability · 99th percentile
CISA KEV
Listed 10 December 2021 · due 10 June 2022
Affected
linux/linux kernel · debian/debian linux · fedoraproject/fedora · canonical/ubuntu linux · redhat/enterprise linux · redhat/enterprise linux for arm 64 · redhat/enterprise linux for ibm z systems · redhat/enterprise linux for real time · redhat/enterprise linux for real time for nfv · redhat/enterprise linux for real time for nfv tus · redhat/enterprise linux for real time tus · netapp/aff a700s firmware · netapp/h410c firmware · netapp/h610s firmware · netapp/active iq unified manager · netapp/e-series performance analyzer · netapp/e-series santricity os controller · netapp/hci management node · netapp/service processor · netapp/solidfire · +2 more
Source
cve@mitre.org

CISA notes

Apply updates per vendor instructions. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-13272

References

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.