CVE-2019-13272
Published 2019-07-17 · Updated 2026-06-17 · Source cve@mitre.org
Summary
CVE-2019-13272 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) vulnerability in Linux Kernel. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on December 10, 2021, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed; US federal agencies had to remediate it by June 10, 2022. CISA does not currently list it as used in ransomware campaigns. Linux has 32 vulnerabilities in the KEV catalog, 2 of them linked to ransomware.
All 32 known-exploited Linux vulnerabilities →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 vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CISA Known-Exploited Vulnerability
Product: Linux — Kernel
Name: Linux Kernel Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability
Date added: 2021-12-10 · Due: 2022-06-10
Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
References
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153663/Linux-PTRACE_TRACEME-Broken-Permission-Object-Lifetime-Handling.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153702/Slackware-Security-Advisory-Slackware-14.2-kernel-Updates.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154245/Kernel-Live-Patch-Security-Notice-LSN-0054-1.html
- 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://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2405
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2411

