In the Linux kernel through 5.2.14 on the powerpc platform, a local user can read vector registers of other users' processes via a Facility…

published 2019-09-13 7 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2019-6117

cvss: 4.4; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.5%; EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 39%
public exploits: 0; none known

In the Linux kernel through 5.2.14 on the powerpc platform, a local user can read vector registers of other users' processes via a Facility Unavailable exception. To exploit the venerability, a local user starts a transaction (via the hardware transactional memory instruction tbegin) and then accesses vector registers. At some point, the vector registers will be corrupted with the values from a different local Linux process because of a missing arch/powerpc/kernel/process.c check.

Patch / fix

distros 5 links 2

debian ubuntu red hat suse opensuse

linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 5.2.17-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2019-15030

linux Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-64.73
linux-aws Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1050.52
linux-gcp Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.15.0-1044.46
linux-gcp Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1044.70
linux-hwe Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.15.0-64.73~16.04.1
linux-hwe Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 5.0.0-29.31~18.04.1
linux-kvm Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1046.46
linux-oem Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1056.65

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2019-15030

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

kernel RHEL 8 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1
perf RHEL 8 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1
bpftool RHEL 8 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1
kernel-core RHEL 8 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1
kernel-tools RHEL 8 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1
python3-perf RHEL 8 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1
kernel-modules RHEL 8 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1
kernel-zfcpdump RHEL 8 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1

red hat advisories RHSA-2020:1372 RHSA-2020:0740

kernel-azure SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES 12 SP5 4.12.14-16.7.1
kernel-syms-azure SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES 12 SP5 4.12.14-16.7.1
kernel-source-azure SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES 12 SP5 4.12.14-16.7.1
kernel-syms SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES 12 SP5 4.12.14-122.7.1
kernel-source SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES 12 SP5 4.12.14-122.7.1
kernel-default SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES 12 SP5, SLE Workstation Extension 12 SP5 +2 more 4.12.14-122.7.1
kernel-obs-build SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP5 4.12.14-122.7.1
kernel-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP4 4.12.14-8.6.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2020:0093-1 SUSE-SU-2019:3200-1 SUSE-SU-2019:2756-1 SUSE-SU-2019:2738-1 SUSE-SU-2019:2658-1 SUSE-SU-2019:2651-1

kernel-source openSUSE Tumbleweed 5.14.6-1.4
kernel-source openSUSE Tumbleweed 6.6.17-1.1
kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 15.1 4.12.14-lp151.28.16.1
kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 15.1 4.12.14-lp151.28.16.1
kernel-source openSUSE Leap 15.1 4.12.14-lp151.28.16.1
kernel-default openSUSE Leap 15.1 4.12.14-lp151.28.16.1
kernel-vanilla openSUSE Leap 15.1 4.12.14-lp151.28.16.1
kernel-kvmsmall openSUSE Leap 15.1 4.12.14-lp151.28.16.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10728-1 openSUSE-SU-2024:13704-1 openSUSE-SU-2019:2181-1 openSUSE-SU-2019:2173-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2019-15030 updated 2026-11-05 cvss 4.4

kernel: powerpc: local user can read vector registers of other users' processes via a Facility Unavailable exception

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-kvm, kernel-rt-core, kernel-rt-modules, kernel-rt-debug-kvm, kernel-rt-debug-core, +6 more
affected: workaround, no fix available “When applicable rely on FPU emulation (for example by rebuilding the critical services code) instead of the hardware FPU.”
Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 8) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) perf 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1, kernel 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1, bpftool 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1, kernel-core 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1, kernel-tools 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1, python3-perf 4.18.0-147.8.1.el8_1, +15 more
fixed: vendor fix “When applicable rely on FPU emulation (for example by rebuilding the critical services code) instead of the hardware FPU.” RHSA-2020:1372
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server (v. 7) perf 4.14.0-115.18.1.el7a, kernel 4.14.0-115.18.1.el7a, kernel-alt 4.14.0-115.18.1.el7a, python-perf 4.14.0-115.18.1.el7a, kernel-tools 4.14.0-115.18.1.el7a, kernel-tools-libs 4.14.0-115.18.1.el7a, +3 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.14.0-115.18.1.el7a
fixed: vendor fix “When applicable rely on FPU emulation (for example by rebuilding the critical services code) instead of the hardware FPU.” RHSA-2020:0740
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 kernel-rt, mrg-rt-release, kernel-rt-trace, kernel-rt-vanilla, kernel-rt-firmware
not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.45% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 39% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

git.kernel.org https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=8205d5d98ef7f155de211f5e2eb6ca03d95a5a60 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	3.1	4.4	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L
NVD	2.0	3.6	AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:P

Classification

Weakness

CWE-862 Missing Authorization

Technology feeds

Linux kernel rss critical rss

References

git.kernel.org /pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=8205d5d98ef7f155de211f5e2eb6ca03d95a5a60
exploit, mailing-list, patch, vendor-advisory
openwall.com /lists/oss-security/2019/09/10/3
mailing-list, patch, third-party-advisory
usn.ubuntu.com /4135-2/
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
lists.opensuse.org /opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00064.html
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
lists.opensuse.org /opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00066.html
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
usn.ubuntu.com /4135-1/
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
access.redhat.com /errata/RHSA-2020:0740
vendor-advisory
security.netapp.com /advisory/ntap-20191004-0001/
third-party-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2019-15030
NVD CVE-2019-15030

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary