CVE-2019-3901
A race condition in perf_event_open() allows local attackers to leak sensitive data from setuid programs. As no relevant locks (in…
- 5.6MediumCVSS base score
- 0.34%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 72% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
A race condition in perf_event_open() allows local attackers to leak sensitive data from setuid programs. As no relevant locks (in particular the cred_guard_mutex) are held during the ptrace_may_access() call, it is possible for the specified target task to perform an execve() syscall with setuid execution before perf_event_alloc() actually attaches to it, allowing an attacker to bypass the ptrace_may_access() check and the perf_event_exit_task(current) call that is performed in install_exec_creds() during privileged execve() calls. This issue affects kernel versions before 4.8.
Timeline
ID reserved
By redhat
- 4 months later
· 4 months later
Published
- 5 years later
· 5 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 | Medium5.6 | CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium4.7 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.34% · top 72% of all CVEs (11 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.6.
Affected products
- affected older then 4.8
References
5
- 89937 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20190528 [SECURITY] [DLA 1799-1] linux security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20190528 [SECURITY] [DLA 1799-2] linux security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190517-0005/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-3901 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_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-2019-13509 (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-2019-3901)Record last updated .