CVE-2019-3842In systemd before v242-rc4, it was discovered that pam_systemd does not properly sanitize the environment before using the XDG_SEAT…
- 4.5MediumCVSS base score
- 1.2%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 31% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 1Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
In systemd before v242-rc4, it was discovered that pam_systemd does not properly sanitize the environment before using the XDG_SEAT variable. It is possible for an attacker, in some particular configurations, to set a XDG_SEAT environment variable which allows for commands to be checked against polkit policies using the "allow_active" element rather than "allow_any".
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list an Exploit-DB entry for it. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit.
Show the exploits2
Exploit-DB1 entry
- systemd - Lack of Seat Verification in PAM Module Permits Spoofing Active Session to polkit (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 46743dos, linuxpublished 23 Apr 2019Verified
References tagged exploit1 reference
- 46743 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By redhat
- 3 months later
· 3 months later
Published
- 6 years later
· 6 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| redhatCNA (assigner) | 3.0 | Medium4.5 | CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | High7.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 1.2% · top 31% of all CVEs (12 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 4.5.
Affected products
- affected v242-rc4
References
References8
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-3842 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- FEDORA-2019-3fa5db9e19 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORAx_transferred
- 46743 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152610/systemd-Seat-Verification-Active-Session-Spoofing.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20190424 [SECURITY] [DLA 1762-1] systemd security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- openSUSE-SU-2019:1450 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEx_transferred
- [bookkeeper-issues] 20210628 [GitHub] [bookkeeper] padma81 opened a new issue #2746: Security Vulnerabilities in CentOS 7 image, Upgrade image to CentOS 8 (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- [bookkeeper-issues] 20210629 [GitHub] [bookkeeper] padma81 opened a new issue #2746: Security Vulnerabilities in CentOS 7 image, Upgrade image to CentOS 8 (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2019-13462 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2019-3842)Record last updated .