CVE-2019-6133

In PolicyKit (aka polkit) 0.115, the "start time" protection mechanism can be bypassed because fork() is not atomic, and therefore authorization decisions are improperly cached. This is related to lack of uid checking in polkitbackend/polkitbackendinteractiveauthority.c.

Published: 2019-01-11 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-6133 is rated Low Risk (39.6/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.45%). 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-2019-6133

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 0.02% 0.45% +0.42%
2 2025-11-21 0.08% 0.02% -0.06%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.08% —

Full EPSS history (12 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-6133

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.7 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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-2019-6133

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-6133

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-6133 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (linux, policykit-1), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 10. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-6133
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-6133
suse medium CVE-2019-6133 severity moderate: SUSE including 366 source package names (PolicyKit, PolicyKit-32bit, …), 615 product×package rows across 83 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-BYOS, … (83 product lines)): Fixed 372, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 12. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-6133/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-6133 medium priority: Ubuntu including 99 source packages (linux, linux-aws, …), 901 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 597, released 145, not-affected 142, ignored 16, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-6133

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-6133

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
polkit_project polkit 0.115 cpe:2.3:a:polkit_project:polkit:0.115:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 6.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:6.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
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 18.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-6133

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-08/msg00049.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106537 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:0230 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:0420 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:0832 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2699
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2978
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1692 Issue Tracking Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://git.kernel.org/linus/7b55851367136b1efd84d98fea81ba57a98304cf Patch Third Party Advisory
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/polkit/polkit/commit/c898fdf4b1aafaa04f8ada9d73d77c8bb76e2f81 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/polkit/polkit/merge_requests/19 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/01/msg00021.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/05/msg00041.html
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/05/msg00042.html
https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K22715344 Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3901-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3901-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3903-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3903-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3908-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3908-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3910-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3910-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3934-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3934-2/
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