CVE-2019-25017

Exp

An issue was discovered in rcp in MIT krb5-appl through 1.0.3. Due to the rcp implementation being derived from 1983 rcp, the server chooses which files/directories are sent to the client. However, the rcp client only performs cursory validation of the object name returned (only directory traversal attacks are prevented). A malicious rcp server (or Man-in-The-Middle attacker) can overwrite arbitrary files in the rcp client target directory. If recursive operation (-r) is performed, the server can manipulate subdirectories as well (for example, to overwrite the .ssh/authorized_keys file). This issue is similar to CVE-2019-6111 and CVE-2019-7283. NOTE: MIT krb5-appl is not supported upstream but is shipped by a few Linux distributions. The affected code was removed from the supported MIT Kerberos 5 (aka krb5) product many years ago, at version 1.8.

Published: 2021-02-02 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-25017 is rated High Exploit Risk (63.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.42%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2019-25017

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-25017

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 0.52% 1.42% +0.90%
2 2026-05-26 0.66% 0.52% -0.14%
3 2026-05-22 — 0.66% —

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-25017

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.9 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 3.6 [email protected]
5.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-25017

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-25017

vendor priority summary link
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-25017
suse high CVE-2019-25017 severity important: SUSE including 2 source package names (krb5-appl-clients-1.0.3-3.6.1, krb5-appl-servers-1.0.3-3.6.1), 42 product×package rows across 21 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Sale 12 SP2-CLIENT, … (21 product lines)): Fixed 42. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-25017/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-25017 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (krb5-appl), 6 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 5, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-25017

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-25017

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
mit krb5-appl <= 1.0.3 cpe:2.3:a:mit:krb5-appl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-25017

URL Tags
https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1131109 Exploit Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence