# CVE-2019-13272: Linux Kernel Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability

> CVE-2019-13272: Linux Kernel Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability. CVSS 7.8 (CVSS 3.1), in CISA KEV.

Canonical: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2019-13272
Last updated: 2025-10-21T23:45:33Z

- Published: 2019-07-17 12:32 UTC · Updated: 2025-10-21 23:45 UTC · Assigner: mitre
- CVSS: 7.8 (CVSS 3.1) · Severity: High · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS: 52.2%, 99th percentile (scored 2026-10-25)
- CISA KEV: yes, added 2021-12-10, federal due date 2022-06-10, ransomware use: Unknown

## Description

In the Linux kernel before 5.1.17, ptrace\_link in kernel/ptrace.c mishandles the recording of the credentials of a process that wants to create a ptrace relationship, which allows local users to obtain root access by leveraging certain scenarios with a parent-child process relationship, where a parent drops privileges and calls execve (potentially allowing control by an attacker). One contributing factor is an object lifetime issue (which can also cause a panic). Another contributing factor is incorrect marking of a ptrace relationship as privileged, which is exploitable through (for example) Polkit's pkexec helper with PTRACE\_TRACEME. NOTE: SELinux deny\_ptrace might be a usable workaround in some environments.

## CISA required action

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

## Affected vendors and products

- Linux: Kernel

## References

- [CVE record on cve.org](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-13272)
- [NVD entry](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-13272)
- [http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153663/Linux-PTRACE\_TRACEME-Broken-Permission-Object-Lifetime-Handling.html](http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153663/Linux-PTRACE_TRACEME-Broken-Permission-Object-Lifetime-Handling.html)
- [http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153702/Slackware-Security-Advisory-Slackware-14.2-kernel-Updates.html](http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153702/Slackware-Security-Advisory-Slackware-14.2-kernel-Updates.html)
- [http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154245/Kernel-Live-Patch-Security-Notice-LSN-0054-1.html](http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154245/Kernel-Live-Patch-Security-Notice-LSN-0054-1.html)
- [http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154957/Linux-Polkit-pkexec-Helper-PTRACE\_TRACEME-Local-Root.html](http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154957/Linux-Polkit-pkexec-Helper-PTRACE_TRACEME-Local-Root.html)
- [http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156929/Linux-PTRACE\_TRACEME-Local-Root.html](http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156929/Linux-PTRACE_TRACEME-Local-Root.html)
- [http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/165051/Linux-Kernel-5.1.x-PTRACE\_TRACEME-pkexec-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html](http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/165051/Linux-Kernel-5.1.x-PTRACE_TRACEME-pkexec-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html)
- [https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2405](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2405)
- [https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2411](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2411)
- [https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2809](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2809)
- [https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1903](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1903)
- [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show\_bug.cgi?id=1730895](https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1730895)
- [https://bugzilla.suse.com/show\_bug.cgi?id=1140671](https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1140671)
- [https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.1.17](https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.1.17)
- [https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/6994eefb0053799d2e07cd140df6c2ea106c41ee](https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/6994eefb0053799d2e07cd140df6c2ea106c41ee)
- [https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6994eefb0053799d2e07cd140df6c2ea106c41ee](https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6994eefb0053799d2e07cd140df6c2ea106c41ee)
- [https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/07/msg00022.html](https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/07/msg00022.html)
- [https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/07/msg00023.html](https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/07/msg00023.html)
- [https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/OGRK5LYWBJ4E4SRI4DKX367NHYSI3VOH/](https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%2540lists.fedoraproject.org/message/OGRK5LYWBJ4E4SRI4DKX367NHYSI3VOH/)
- [https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Jul/30](https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Jul/30)
- [https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Jul/33](https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Jul/33)
- [https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190806-0001/](https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190806-0001/)
- [https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K91025336](https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K91025336)
- [https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K91025336?utm\_source=f5support&amp%3Butm\_medium=RSS](https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K91025336?utm_source=f5support&amp%253Butm_medium=RSS)
- [https://usn.ubuntu.com/4093-1/](https://usn.ubuntu.com/4093-1/)
- [https://usn.ubuntu.com/4094-1/](https://usn.ubuntu.com/4094-1/)
- [https://usn.ubuntu.com/4095-1/](https://usn.ubuntu.com/4095-1/)
- [https://usn.ubuntu.com/4117-1/](https://usn.ubuntu.com/4117-1/)
- [https://usn.ubuntu.com/4118-1/](https://usn.ubuntu.com/4118-1/)
- [https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4484](https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4484)

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_Sources: CVE records from the CVE Program (cve.org). CVE® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. (https://www.cve.org/) This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. (https://nvd.nist.gov/) Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog from CISA. (https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog) EPSS scores from FIRST (Exploit Prediction Scoring System). (https://www.first.org/epss/)_


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Canonical: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2019-13272 · Markdown: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2019-13272.md · JSON: https://rewindex.com/api/v1/cves/CVE-2019-13272 · Data licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) · Generated 2026-10-26T03:09:23.980Z