CVE Tools

CVE-2019-15790

Apport reads PID files with elevated privileges

Published: Apr 27, 2020Updated: Nov 3, 2025 Sources: CVE List NVD BDUCWE-250

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.

CVSS Vector Breakdown

AV:LAC:HPR:LUI:NS:CC:LI:NA:N
Exploitability
AV:LAttack Vector
Local
AC:HAttack Complexity
High
PR:LPrivileges Required
Low
UI:NUser Interaction
None
Scope
S:CScope
Changed
Impact
C:LConfidentiality
Low
I:NIntegrity
None
A:NAvailability
None

Weaknesses

Affected Products

canonical ltd.commercialGBOperating Systemsaka canonical
canonicalcommercialGBOperating Systemsaka canonical ltd.

Attack Graph

Products CVE Techniques Tactics

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Exploitability

4 exploit sources identified

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View exploit details
Official Patch Available

MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques
Privilege Escalation
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References

and 9 more references View all →

Timeline

Published
Apr 27, 2020
Last Updated
Nov 3, 2025

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