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Fencer Vulns
medium 5.6

CVE-2019-3901 json

A race condition in perf_event_open() allows local attackers to leak sensitive data from setuid programs.

published 2019-04-22 7 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2019-13509

cvss
5.6
version 3.0, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.3%
EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 27%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 4.8
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.6.1-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2019-3901

  • linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-28.47
  • linux-raspi2 Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1016.22
  • linux-lts-xenial Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 4.4.0-28.47~14.04.1
  • linux-snapdragon Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1019.22

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2019-3901

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 7 3.10.0-1127.el7
  • perf RHEL 7 3.10.0-1127.el7
  • bpftool RHEL 7 3.10.0-1127.el7
  • python-perf RHEL 7 3.10.0-1127.el7
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 7 3.10.0-1127.el7
  • kernel-tools RHEL 7 3.10.0-1127.el7
  • kernel-tools-libs RHEL 7 3.10.0-1127.el7
  • kernel-bootwrapper RHEL 7 3.10.0-1127.el7

red hat advisories RHSA-2020:1016RHSA-2020:2851RHSA-2020:2522RHSA-2020:1070

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-2019-3901 updated cvss 5.6

kernel: perf_event_open() and execve() race in setuid programs allows a data leak

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 kernel-rt, mrg-rt-release, kernel-rt-trace, kernel-rt-vanilla, kernel-rt-firmware
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel 3.10.0-1127.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-1127.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-1127.el7, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1127.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel 3.10.0-1127.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-1127.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-1127.el7, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:1016
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode EUS (v. 7.6) perf 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2851
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode EUS (v. 7.7) perf 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2522
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1127.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:1016
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional EUS (v. 7.6) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2851
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional EUS (v. 7.7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2522
show 10 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-1127.rt56.1093.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-1127.rt56.1093.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1127.rt56.1093.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time for NFV (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-1127.rt56.1093.el7, kernel-rt-kvm 3.10.0-1127.rt56.1093.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-1127.rt56.1093.el7, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 3.10.0-1127.rt56.1093.el7, kernel-rt-trace-kvm 3.10.0-1127.rt56.1093.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1127.rt56.1093.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:1070
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel 3.10.0-1127.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-1127.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-1127.el7, +7 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:1016
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.6) perf 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, +7 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2851
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.7) perf 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, +7 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2522
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-1127.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:1016
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional EUS (v. 7.6) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2851
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional EUS (v. 7.7) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-1062.26.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2522
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel 3.10.0-1127.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-1127.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-1127.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-1127.el7, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1127.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:1016
  • Red Hat Virtualization 4.2 Hypervisor for RHEL 7.6 EUS perf 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2851
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, kernel-alt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-tools, +3 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode EUS (v. 7.6) kernel-headers 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.6) kernel-headers 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7 Red Hat Virtualization 4.2 Hypervisor for RHEL 7.6 EUS kernel-headers 3.10.0-957.56.1.el7
    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

0.34% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 27% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.0 5.6 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD 3.1 4.7 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD 2.0 1.9 AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Affected products

  • The Linux Foundation kernel

Classification

Weakness
Technology feeds

References

Sources

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.