CVE-2019-5188

Exp

A code execution vulnerability exists in the directory rehashing functionality of E2fsprogs e2fsck 1.45.4. A specially crafted ext4 directory can cause an out-of-bounds write on the stack, resulting in code execution. An attacker can corrupt a partition to trigger this vulnerability.

Published: 2020-01-08 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-5188 is rated High Exploit Risk (66.5/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.03%). 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-2019-5188

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-5188

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 0.17% 1.03% +0.85%
2 2026-05-28 0.07% 0.17% +0.10%
3 2026-03-16 — 0.07% —

Full EPSS history (15 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-5188

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
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.
 0.8 6.0 [email protected]
6.7 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
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.
 0.8 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-2019-5188

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-5188

vendor priority summary link
alpine medium CVE-2019-5188: 1 source package rows (e2fsprogs); 15 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 5. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2019-5188
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-5188 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (e2fsprogs), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-5188
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-5188
suse medium CVE-2019-5188 severity moderate: SUSE including 466 source package names (0.1.0:libcom_err2-1.43.8-4.17.1, 0.1.75:libcom_err2-1.43.8-4.17.1, …), 770 product×package rows across 205 product lines (Container bci/bci-init, Container bci/dotnet-aspnet, … (205 product lines)): Fixed 589, Known Affected 157, Known Not Affected 24. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-5188/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-5188 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (e2fsprogs), 6 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, disco, eoan, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 6. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-5188

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-5188

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
e2fsprogs_project e2fsprogs >= 1.43.3, <= 1.45.4 cpe:2.3:a:e2fsprogs_project:e2fsprogs:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 30 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:30:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 31 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:31:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 19.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:19.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 19.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:19.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.1 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp hci_compute_node_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:hci_compute_node_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp solidfire\,_enterprise_sds_\&_hci_storage_node — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:solidfire\,_enterprise_sds_\&_hci_storage_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-5188

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-02/msg00004.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/03/msg00030.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/07/msg00021.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2AKETJ6BREDUHRWQTV35SPGG5C6H7KSI/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/6DOBCYQKCTTWXBLMUPJ5TX3FY7JNCOKY/
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20220506-0001/ Third Party Advisory
https://talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2019-0973 Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4249-1/ Third Party Advisory
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