CVE-2019-5489

The mincore() implementation in mm/mincore.c in the Linux kernel through 4.19.13 allowed local attackers to observe page cache access patterns of other processes on the same system, potentially allowing sniffing of secret information. (Fixing this affects the output of the fincore program.) Limited remote exploitation may be possible, as demonstrated by latency differences in accessing public files from an Apache HTTP Server.

Published: 2019-01-07 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2019-5489 is rated Moderate Risk (44.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.44%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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-2019-5489

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 2026-04-20 0.21% 0.44% +0.23%
2 2025-11-21 0.46% 0.21% -0.25%
3 2025-11-18 0.46%

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-5489

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/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: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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]
2.1 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:L/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:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
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.
3.9 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-5489

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-5489

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-5489 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-2019-5489
redhat high https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-5489
suse medium CVE-2019-5489 severity moderate: SUSE including 343 source package names (bpftool-3.10.0-1062.el7, bpftool-4.18.0-147.el8, …), 584 product×package rows across 69 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 3.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 4, … (69 product lines)): Fixed 555, Known Not Affected 29. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-5489/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-5489 medium priority: Ubuntu including 118 source packages (linux, linux-aws, …), 1187 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 840, not-affected 163, released 159, ignored 24, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-5489

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-5489

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel <= 4.19.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp active_iq_performance_analytics_services cpe:2.3:a:netapp:active_iq_performance_analytics_services:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp element_software_management_node cpe:2.3:a:netapp:element_software_management_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-5489

URL Tags
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=574823bfab82d9d8fa47f422778043fbb4b4f50e Patch Vendor Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-05/msg00071.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-06/msg00039.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-06/msg00048.html
http://www.huawei.com/en/psirt/security-advisories/huawei-sa-20200115-01-pagecache-en
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106478 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2029
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2043
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2473
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2808
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2809
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2837
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3309
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3517
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3967
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:4056
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:4057
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:4058
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:4159
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:4164
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:4255
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:0204
https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.01161 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1120843 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/574823bfab82d9d8fa47f422778043fbb4b4f50e Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/06/msg00010.html
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/06/msg00011.html
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Jun/26
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190307-0001/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4465
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujul2020.html
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/05/boffins_beat_page_cache/ Technical Description Third Party Advisory
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