Linux Kernel

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

Is it exploited?

Yes. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 10 Dec 2021, 877 days after the CVE record was published.

How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?

52.2%

EPSS score, percentile 99 of all scored records

How severe?

7.8 High

CVSS v3.1 base score, from CISA's enrichment of the record

What should I do?

CISA deadline 10 Jun 2022. Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Advisories and patches (10)

Which versions are affected?

Not stated. The CVE record gives vendor and product as “n/a” and the version as “unspecified”.

Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of 28 Oct 2026; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of 28 Oct 2026; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

What to do

Required action, set by CISA

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

CISA due date for this action: 10 June 2022.

Advisories and patches

FEDORA-2019-a95015e60f (Vendor advisory)
DSA-4484 (Vendor advisory)
RHSA-2019:2405 (Vendor advisory)
RHSA-2019:2411 (Vendor advisory)
USN-4093-1 (Vendor advisory)
USN-4094-1 (Vendor advisory)
USN-4095-1 (Vendor advisory)
USN-4117-1 (Vendor advisory)
USN-4118-1 (Vendor advisory)
RHSA-2019:2809 (Vendor advisory)

Linked from CISA's catalog entry

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-13272

Affected products and versions

The CVE record does not name affected products or versions: vendor and product are “n/a” and the version is “unspecified”.

Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

About this vulnerability

Kernel/ptrace.c in Linux kernel mishandles contains an improper privilege management vulnerability that allows local users to obtain root access.

Summary: CISA's KEV catalog, as of 28 Oct 2026.

CISA added CVE-2019-13272 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 10 Dec 2021.
CISA's ransomware flag for this entry is "Unknown": no evidence of ransomware use in the catalog, which is not proof of none.
The due date CISA sets for the required action is 10 Jun 2022.
The CVE record was published on 17 Jul 2019, 877 days before it was added to KEV.
The CVE record carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (High), taken from CISA's enrichment of the record.
FIRST's EPSS model puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 52.2% (percentile 99), as of 28 Oct 2026.
CISA's SSVC assessment in the CVE record: exploitation active, automatable no, technical impact total.

Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of 28 Oct 2026; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

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.

Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

Weakness

CWE-269

CWE and CAPEC are maintained by MITRE; the entries are those named in the CVE record and the KEV entry.

Timeline

Date	Event
17 Jul 2019	CVE record published
10 Dec 2021	Added to CISA KEV
10 Jun 2022	CISA due date for the required action
21 Oct 2025	CVE record last updated

References

17 more in the CVE record.

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