CVE-2019-3461

Debian tmpreaper version 1.6.13+nmu1 has a race condition when doing a (bind) mount via rename() which could result in local privilege escalation. Mounting via rename() could potentially lead to a file being placed elsewhereon the filesystem hierarchy (e.g. /etc/cron.d/) if the directory being cleaned up was on the same physical filesystem. Fixed versions include 1.6.13+nmu1+deb9u1 and 1.6.14.

Published: 2019-02-04 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2019-3461 is rated Low Risk (33.9/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.25%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2019-3461

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 0.06% 0.25% +0.20%
2 2025-03-17 0.04% 0.06% +0.01%
3 2023-03-07 0.04%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-3461

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.0 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/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: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: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.
1.0 5.9 [email protected]
4.4 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/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:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
3.4 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-3461

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-3461

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-3461 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (tmpreaper), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-3461
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-3461 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (tmpreaper), 19 status rows across 19 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 14, released 3, ignored 1, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-3461

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-3461

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
debian tmpreaper 1.6.13\+nmu1 cpe:2.3:a:debian:tmpreaper:1.6.13\+nmu1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-3461

cvelogic Threat Intelligence