CVE-2019-3901

A race condition in perf_event_open() allows local attackers to leak sensitive data from setuid programs. As no relevant locks (in particular the cred_guard_mutex) are held during the ptrace_may_access() call, it is possible for the specified target task to perform an execve() syscall with setuid execution before perf_event_alloc() actually attaches to it, allowing an attacker to bypass the ptrace_may_access() check and the perf_event_exit_task(current) call that is performed in install_exec_creds() during privileged execve() calls. This issue affects kernel versions before 4.8.

Published: 2019-04-22 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-3901 is rated Low Risk (25.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). 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-2019-3901

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 2025-03-30 0.20% 0.07% -0.12%
2 2025-03-29 0.07% 0.20% +0.12%
3 2025-03-17 — 0.07% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-3901

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.7 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N 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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.0 3.6 [email protected]
5.6 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N 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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.1 4.0 [email protected]
1.9 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N 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:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 3.4 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-3901

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-3901

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-3901 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-2019-3901
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-3901
suse low CVE-2019-3901 severity low: SUSE including 23 source package names (bpftool-3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel-3.10.0-1127.el7, …), 142 product×package rows across 35 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.5, SUSE Enterprise Storage 7, … (35 product lines)): Known Not Affected 129, Fixed 13. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-3901/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-3901 medium priority: Ubuntu including 95 source packages (linux, linux-aws, …), 858 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 572, not-affected 169, released 99, ignored 18. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-3901

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-3901

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel < 4.8 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp active_iq_unified_manager_for_vmware_vsphere >= 9.5 cpe:2.3:a:netapp:active_iq_unified_manager_for_vmware_vsphere:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp hci_management_node — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:hci_management_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp snapprotect — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:snapprotect:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp solidfire — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:solidfire:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp storage_replication_adapter_for_clustered_data_ontap_for_vmware_vsphere >= 7.2 cpe:2.3:a:netapp:storage_replication_adapter_for_clustered_data_ontap_for_vmware_vsphere:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp vasa_provider_for_clustered_data_ontap >= 7.2 cpe:2.3:a:netapp:vasa_provider_for_clustered_data_ontap:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp virtual_storage_console_for_vmware_vsphere >= 7.2 cpe:2.3:a:netapp:virtual_storage_console_for_vmware_vsphere:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp cn1610_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:cn1610_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-3901

cvelogic Threat Intelligence