CVE-2019-13272 vulnerability in Debian and Other Products
Published on July 17, 2019

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.

Vendor Advisory Vendor Advisory NVD

Known Exploited Vulnerability

This Linux Kernel Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability is part of CISA's list of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities. Kernel/ptrace.c in Linux kernel mishandles contains an improper privilege management vulnerability which allows local users to obtain root access.

The following remediation steps are recommended / required by June 10, 2022: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2019-13272 is exploitable with local system access, and requires small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. It has an exploitability score of 1.8 out of four. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.

Improper Privilege Management

The software does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.

Products Associated with CVE-2019-13272

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What versions are vulnerable to CVE-2019-13272?

Linux Kernel Version 4.10 Fixed in Version 4.14.133
Linux Kernel Version 4.20 Fixed in Version 5.1.17
Linux Kernel Version 4.15 Fixed in Version 4.19.58
Linux Kernel Version 3.16.52 Fixed in Version 3.16.71
Linux Kernel Version 4.9.1 Fixed in Version 4.9.185
Linux Kernel Version 4.1.39 Fixed in Version 4.2
Linux Kernel Version 4.4.40 Fixed in Version 4.4.185
Linux Kernel Version 4.8.16 Fixed in Version 4.9

Debian Linux Version 8.0
Debian Linux Version 9.0
Debian Linux Version 10.0

Fedora Project Fedora Version 29

Canonical Ubuntu Linux Version 18.04
Canonical Ubuntu Linux Version 19.04
Canonical Ubuntu Linux Version 16.04

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Version 7.0
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Version 8.0
Red Hat Enterprise Linux For Real Time Version 8

Each of the following must match for the vulnerability to exist.