CVE-2019-10166

It was discovered that libvirtd, versions 4.x.x before 4.10.1 and 5.x.x before 5.4.1, would permit readonly clients to use the virDomainManagedSaveDefineXML() API, which would permit them to modify managed save state files. If a managed save had already been created by a privileged user, a local attacker could modify this file such that libvirtd would execute an arbitrary program when the domain was resumed.

Published: 2019-08-02 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-10166 is rated Moderate Risk (44.4/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.47%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-10166

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.14% 0.47% +0.33%
2 2025-12-11 0.04% 0.14% +0.10%
3 2025-03-30 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-10166

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.8 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.1 6.0 [email protected]
4.6 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 3.9 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-10166

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-10166

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2019-10166: 1 source package rows (libvirt); 10 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 10, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2019-10166
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-10166 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libvirt), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-10166
gentoo high CVE-2019-10166: 1 GLSA(s) (202003-18), 1 atom(s) (app-emulation/libvirt); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2019-10166
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-10166
suse high CVE-2019-10166 severity important: SUSE including 935 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 1292 product×package rows across 53 product lines (SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP3, SUSE Liberty Linux 7, … (53 product lines)): Fixed 848, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 213. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-10166/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-10166 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libvirt), 6 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 3, not-affected 2, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-10166

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-10166

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
redhat libvirt >= 4.0.0, < 4.10.1 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:libvirt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat libvirt >= 5.0.0, < 5.4.1 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:libvirt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat virtualization 4.3 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:virtualization:4.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-10166

cvelogic Threat Intelligence