CVE-2019-19232
In Sudo through 1.8.29, an attacker with access to a Runas ALL sudoer account can impersonate a nonexistent user by invoking sudo with a numeric uid that is not associated with any user.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (3.29%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
In Sudo through 1.8.29, an attacker with access to a Runas ALL sudoer account can impersonate a nonexistent user by invoking sudo with a numeric uid that is not associated with any user. NOTE: The software maintainer believes that this is not a vulnerability because running a command via sudo as a user not present in the local password database is an intentional feature. Because this behavior surprised some users, sudo 1.8.30 introduced an option to enable/disable this behavior with the default being disabled. However, this does not change the fact that sudo was behaving as intended, and as documented, in earlier versions
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- EPSS
- 3.29% probability · 88th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Affected
- sudo/sudo
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 3.3% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Mar/31
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2019-19232
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/I6TKF36KOQUVJNBHSVJFA7BU3CCEYD2F/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/IY6DZ7WMDKU4ZDML6MJLDAPG42B5WVUC/
- https://quickview.cloudapps.cisco.com/quickview/bug/CSCvs58103
- https://quickview.cloudapps.cisco.com/quickview/bug/CSCvs58812
- https://quickview.cloudapps.cisco.com/quickview/bug/CSCvs58979
- https://quickview.cloudapps.cisco.com/quickview/bug/CSCvs76870
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200103-0004/
- https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT211100
- https://support.apple.com/kb/HT211100
- https://support2.windriver.com/index.php?page=cve&on=view&id=CVE-2019-19232
- https://support2.windriver.com/index.php?page=defects&on=view&id=LIN1018-5506
- https://www.bsi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Warnmeldungen/DE/CB/2019/12/warnmeldung_cb-k20-0001.html
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/bulletinapr2020.html
- https://www.sudo.ws/devel.html#1.8.30b2Vendor Advisory
- https://www.sudo.ws/stable.htmlVendor Advisory
- https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/133936
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Mar/31
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2019-19232
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/I6TKF36KOQUVJNBHSVJFA7BU3CCEYD2F/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/IY6DZ7WMDKU4ZDML6MJLDAPG42B5WVUC/
- https://quickview.cloudapps.cisco.com/quickview/bug/CSCvs58103
- https://quickview.cloudapps.cisco.com/quickview/bug/CSCvs58812
- https://quickview.cloudapps.cisco.com/quickview/bug/CSCvs58979
- https://quickview.cloudapps.cisco.com/quickview/bug/CSCvs76870
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200103-0004/
- https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT211100
- https://support.apple.com/kb/HT211100
- https://support2.windriver.com/index.php?page=cve&on=view&id=CVE-2019-19232
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.