CVE-2019-13272

Exp

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.

Published: 2019-07-17 Last update: 2025-11-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-13272 is rated Critical Active Threat (90.2/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 80.38%, 99th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2021-12-10) affecting Linux / Kernel. Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

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

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2019-13272

Name: Linux Kernel Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2021-12-10

Action due: 2022-06-10

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2019-13272

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
50541 exploit_db edb 2021-11-23 Exploit-DB ↗
47543 exploit_db edb 2019-10-24 Exploit-DB ↗
47163 exploit_db edb 2019-07-24 Exploit-DB ↗
47133 exploit_db edb 2019-07-17 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
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Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-13272

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 2026-05-28 81.07% 80.38% -0.70%
2 2026-05-02 81.25% 81.07% -0.18%
3 2026-04-30 — 81.25% —

Full EPSS history (50 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-13272

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 3.1 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 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-13272

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-13272

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-13272 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-13272
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-13272
suse medium CVE-2019-13272 severity moderate: SUSE including 95 source package names (bpftool-4.18.0-80.7.2.el8_0, cluster-md-kmp-default-4.4.121-92.125.1, …), 508 product×package rows across 91 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP3, … (91 product lines)): Known Not Affected 259, Fixed 249. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-13272/
ubuntu high CVE-2019-13272 high priority: Ubuntu including 112 source packages (linux, linux-aws, …), 1139 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 798, not-affected 166, released 155, ignored 20. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-13272

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-13272

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.16.52, < 3.16.71 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.1.39, < 4.2 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.4.40, < 4.4.185 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.8.16, < 4.9 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.9.1, < 4.9.185 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.10, < 4.14.133 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.15, < 4.19.58 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.20, < 5.1.17 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 29 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:29:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 19.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:19.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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_for_arm_64 7.0_aarch64 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_arm_64:7.0_aarch64:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems 7.0_s390x cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems:7.0_s390x:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_real_time 8 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_real_time:8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_real_time_for_nfv 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_real_time_for_nfv:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_real_time_for_nfv_tus 8.2 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_real_time_for_nfv_tus:8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_real_time_for_nfv_tus 8.4 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_real_time_for_nfv_tus:8.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_real_time_for_nfv_tus 8.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_real_time_for_nfv_tus:8.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_real_time_for_nfv_tus 8.8 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_real_time_for_nfv_tus:8.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_real_time_tus 8.2 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_real_time_tus:8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_real_time_tus 8.4 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_real_time_tus:8.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_real_time_tus 8.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_real_time_tus:8.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_real_time_tus 8.8 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_real_time_tus:8.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp aff_a700s_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:aff_a700s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h410c_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h410c_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h610s_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h610s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp active_iq_unified_manager — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:active_iq_unified_manager:-:*:*:*:*:vmware_vsphere:*:*
netapp e-series_performance_analyzer — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:e-series_performance_analyzer:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp e-series_santricity_os_controller >= 11.0.0, <= 11.60.3 cpe:2.3:a:netapp:e-series_santricity_os_controller:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp hci_management_node — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:hci_management_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp service_processor — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:service_processor:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp solidfire — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:solidfire:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp steelstore_cloud_integrated_storage — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:steelstore_cloud_integrated_storage:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp hci_compute_node — cpe:2.3:h:netapp:hci_compute_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-13272

URL Tags
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153663/Linux-PTRACE_TRACEME-Broken-Permission-Object-Lifetime-Handling.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153702/Slackware-Security-Advisory-Slackware-14.2-kernel-Updates.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154245/Kernel-Live-Patch-Security-Notice-LSN-0054-1.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154957/Linux-Polkit-pkexec-Helper-PTRACE_TRACEME-Local-Root.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156929/Linux-PTRACE_TRACEME-Local-Root.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/165051/Linux-Kernel-5.1.x-PTRACE_TRACEME-pkexec-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2405 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2411 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2809 Third Party Advisory
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1903 Exploit Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1730895 Issue Tracking Patch
https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1140671 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.1.17 Patch Vendor Advisory
https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6994eefb0053799d2e07cd140df6c2ea106c41ee Patch Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/6994eefb0053799d2e07cd140df6c2ea106c41ee Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/07/msg00022.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/07/msg00023.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/OGRK5LYWBJ4E4SRI4DKX367NHYSI3VOH/ Release Notes
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Jul/30 Issue Tracking Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Jul/33 Issue Tracking Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190806-0001/ Third Party Advisory
https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K91025336 Third Party Advisory
https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K91025336?utm_source=f5support&amp%3Butm_medium=RSS Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4093-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4094-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4095-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4117-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4118-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4484 Third Party Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2019-13272 US Government Resource
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