CVE-2019-15790

Apport reads PID files with elevated privileges

LOW
3.3
CVSS Score
Published: April 27, 2020 at 11:25 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 02:21 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsUbuntu LinuxApport

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Severity
LOW3.3
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.5%

Description

Apport reads and writes information on a crashed process to /proc/pid with elevated privileges. Apport then determines which user the crashed process belongs to by reading /proc/pid through get_pid_info() in data/apport. An unprivileged user could exploit this to read information about a privileged running process by exploiting PID recycling. This information could then be used to obtain ASLR offsets for a process with an existing memory corruption vulnerability. The initial fix introduced regressions in the Python Apport library due to a missing argument in Report.add_proc_environ in apport/report.py. It also caused an autopkgtest failure when reading /proc/pid and with Python 2 compatibility by reading /proc maps. The initial and subsequent regression fixes are in 2.20.11-0ubuntu16, 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.6, 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.12, 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.22 and 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.29+esm3.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

2.14.1 ≤ v < 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.29+esm32.20.1 ≤ v < 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.222.20.11 ≤ v < 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.62.20.9 ≤ v < 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.122.14.12.20.12.20.112.20.9
Affected range stops below 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.29+esm3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.22, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.6, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.12, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
LOW
Integrity
NONE
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-250CWE-269

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