CVE-2019-5021Versions of the Official Alpine Linux Docker images (since v3.3) contain a NULL password for the `root` user. This vulnerability appears…
- 9.8CriticalCVSS base score
- 6.3%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 6.3% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
Versions of the Official Alpine Linux Docker images (since v3.3) contain a NULL password for the `root` user. This vulnerability appears to be the result of a regression introduced in December of 2015. Due to the nature of this issue, systems deployed using affected versions of the Alpine Linux container which utilize Linux PAM, or some other mechanism which uses the system shadow file as an authentication database, may accept a NULL password for the `root` user.
Timeline
ID reserved
By talos
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| talosCNA (assigner) | 3.0 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 6.3% · top 6.3% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.8.
Affected products
Alpine Linux
- affected Alpine Docker 3.3 Alpine Docker 3.4 Alpine Docker 3.5 Alpine Docker 3.6 Alpine Docker 3.7 Alpine Docker 3.8 Alpine Docker 3.9 Alpine Docker Edge
References
References6
- 108288 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- openSUSE-SU-2019:1495 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEx_transferred
- https://talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2019-0782 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190510-0001/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://alpinelinux.org/posts/Docker-image-vulnerability-CVE-2019-5021.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K25551452 (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-2019-14628 (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-2019-5021)Record last updated .