Threats / Linux / CVE-2019-13272
CVE-2019-13272
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Linux Kernel vulnerability
A privilege management flaw in Linux kernel ptrace.c allows local users to escalate privileges to root access.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
Local privilege escalation vulnerability in ptrace subsystem. Improper privilege handling enables unprivileged users to gain root-level access. Active exploitation observed in the wild.
CISA KEV Yes · 2021-12-104EPSS 0.52199 (verify live)5Exploit Public PoC6CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Public proof-of-concept exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
7 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-12-10).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.52199 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Linux, Kernel. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management — weakness family: Authorization / access control.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 877 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a functional/weaponized public exploit). Catalog entries: Metasploit module. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I execute code as an unprivileged local user on a vulnerable Linux system.
Business
System compromise risk increases as any local user becomes a potential entry point for full system takeover.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I exploit the ptrace privilege management flaw to bypass access controls and escalate my privileges.
Business
Administrative controls and user isolation mechanisms are rendered ineffective, eliminating a critical security boundary.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I obtain root-level access and execute arbitrary commands with full system privileges.
Business
Complete system compromise occurs, enabling data theft, malware installation, lateral movement, and persistent backdoor establishment.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05