In the Linux kernel before 5.1.17, ptrace_link in kernel/ptrace.c mishandles the recording of the credentials of a process that wants to create a ptrace relationship, which allows local users to obtain root access by leveraging certain scenarios with a parent-child process relationship, where a parent drops privileges and calls execve (potentially allowing control by an attacker). One contributing factor is an object lifetime issue (which can also cause a panic). Another contributing factor is incorrect marking of a ptrace relationship as privileged, which is exploitable through (for example) Polkit's pkexec helper with PTRACE_TRACEME. NOTE: SELinux deny_ptrace might be a usable workaround in some environments.
CVE-2019-13272
Score elevated to 9.0 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-12-10), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.
- Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV)
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 7.8
- EG Score
- 9.0(high)
- EG Risk
- 81(Attend)EG Risk 81/100SSVC: Attend
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity90% × 45%Exploitation100% × 40%Automatability0% × 15%Action: Remediate soon — notable exploitation risk. - EPSS PROB
- 52%
- EPSS %ILE
- 99%
- KEV
- ⚠ Exploited
Published
July 17, 2019
Last Modified
November 6, 2025
Advisory Details (8)
Auto-updated Jun 4, 2026Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2809Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2411Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2405Packet Storm
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154957/Linux-Polkit-pkexec-Helper-PTRACE_TRACEME-Local-Root.htmlPatch Availability(8)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | linux-image-virtual (5.0.0.25.26) @ disco | 2026-09-19 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-virtual-lts-xenial (4.4.0.159.167) @ xenial | 2026-09-19 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-5.0.0-1014-aws (5.0.0-1014.16) @ disco | 2026-09-19 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-aws-hwe (4.15.0.1047.47) @ xenial | 2026-09-19 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-virtual-hwe-16.04 (4.15.0.58.79) @ xenial | 2026-09-19 | ubuntu |
| redhat | kernel-alt-0:4.14.0-115.12.1.el7a | 2019-09-20 | redhat |
| redhat | kernel-0:4.18.0-80.7.2.el8_0 | 2019-08-07 | redhat |
| redhat | kernel-rt-0:4.18.0-80.7.2.rt9.154.el8_0 | 2019-08-07 | redhat |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(8 across 7 ecosystems)
Debian:8(2)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | 3.16.36-1 ... 3.16.7-ckt9-3~deb8u1~bpo70+1 (65 versions) | 3.16.70-1 | — |
| linux-4.9 | 4.9.110-1~deb8u1, 4.9.144-3.1~deb8u1, 4.9.168-1~deb8u1 | 4.9.168-1+deb9u4~deb8u1 | — |
Debian:10(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | 4.19.37-5 | 4.19.37-5+deb10u1 | — |
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — | 4.19.37-6 | — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — | 4.19.37-6 | — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — | 4.19.37-6 | — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — | 4.19.37-6 | — |
Debian:9(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | 4.9.107-1 ... 4.9.88-1~bpo8+1 (49 versions) | 4.9.168-1+deb9u4 | — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
All Vendor Advisories
(8)
Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.
- Red HatRHSA-2019:2405IMPORTANT2019-07-16
RHSA-2019:2405 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2019:2411IMPORTANT2019-07-16
RHSA-2019:2411 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2019:2809IMPORTANT2019-07-16
RHSA-2019:2809 — Important
- UbuntuUSN-4093-1HIGH
Linux kernel vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-4094-1HIGH
Linux kernel vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-4095-1HIGH
Linux kernel vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-4117-1HIGH
Linux kernel (AWS) vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-4118-1HIGH
Linux kernel (AWS) vulnerabilities
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 94× in last 7d / 390× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 1,388 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-09-19 20:34 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-19 20:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-19 16:11 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-19 16:11 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-19 16:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-19 11:49 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-19 11:48 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-19 07:25 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-19 07:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-19 03:03 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-19 03:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-18 22:40 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-18 22:40 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-18 22:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-18 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-18 19:20 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-09-18 18:17 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-18 18:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-18 14:15 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-09-18 13:55 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-18 13:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-18 09:32 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-18 09:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-18 05:09 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-18 05:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
Show 75 moreShow fewer
- 2026-09-18 00:47 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-18 00:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-17 20:24 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-17 20:24 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-17 20:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-17 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-17 16:01 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-17 16:01 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-17 11:38 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-17 11:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-17 07:15 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-17 07:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-17 02:50 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-17 02:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-16 22:25 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-16 22:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-16 18:03 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-16 18:03 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-16 18:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-16 14:10 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-09-16 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-16 13:40 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-16 13:39 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-16 09:14 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-16 09:14 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-16 09:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-16 04:51 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-16 04:51 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-16 00:29 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-16 00:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-15 20:02 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-15 20:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-15 15:39 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-15 15:39 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-15 11:16 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-15 11:16 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-15 06:53 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-15 06:53 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-15 06:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-15 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-15 02:30 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-15 02:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-14 22:07 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-14 22:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-14 19:24 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-09-14 17:41 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-14 17:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-14 13:18 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-14 13:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-14 08:55 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-14 08:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-14 04:33 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-14 04:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-14 00:10 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-14 00:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-13 19:45 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-13 19:45 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-13 19:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-13 16:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-13 15:22 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-13 15:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-13 10:59 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-13 10:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-13 06:36 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-13 06:36 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-13 02:14 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-13 02:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-12 21:51 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-12 21:51 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-12 17:28 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-12 17:28 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-12 17:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-09-12 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-12 13:05 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-12 13:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
Publicly available exploits
(10 references)Working exploit code is in the public domain (6 GitHub PoCs) (4 Exploit-DB entries). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- GitHub PoCjosemlwdf/CVE-2019-13272First seen Jun 20, 2024
This is a Python 3 version of this exploit. Hope it works!!!
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCMDS1GNAL/ptrace_scope-CVE-2019-13272-privilege-escalationFirst seen Jan 31, 2024
Es una vulnerabilidad para escalar privilegios en linux.
Open source ↗ - Exploit-DBEDB-50541First seen Nov 23, 2021
Linux Kernel 5.1.x - 'PTRACE_TRACEME' pkexec Local Privilege Escalation (2)
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCTharana/vulnerability-exploitationFirst seen May 12, 2020
Local Root vulnerability- CVE-2019-13272 / Security Bypass Vulnerability – CVE-2019-14287/Google Android - 'Stagefright' Remote Code Execution - CVE-2015-1538
Open source ↗ - Exploit-DBEDB-47543✓ verifiedFirst seen Oct 24, 2019
Linux Polkit - pkexec helper PTRACE_TRACEME local root (Metasploit)
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoConeoy/CVE-2019-13272First seen Aug 7, 2019
linux 提权
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCjas502n/CVE-2019-13272First seen Jul 31, 2019
Linux 4.10 < 5.1.17 PTRACE_TRACEME local root
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCCyc1eC/CVE-2019-13272First seen Jul 31, 2019
The exploit for CVE-2019-13272
Open source ↗ - Exploit-DBEDB-47163First seen Jul 24, 2019
Linux Kernel 4.10 < 5.1.17 - 'PTRACE_TRACEME' pkexec Local Privilege Escalation
Open source ↗ - Exploit-DBEDB-47133✓ verifiedFirst seen Jul 17, 2019
Linux - Broken Permission and Object Lifetime Handling for PTRACE_TRACEME
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)
Same vendor
10 shownredhat
- CVE-2001-0825EG 10.0HIGH
- CVE-2001-1009EG 10.0EPSS p93HIGH
- CVE-2001-0554EG 10.0EPSS p99HIGH
- CVE-2001-1162EG 10.0EPSS p96HIGH
- CVE-2001-0414EG 10.0EPSS p100HIGH
- CVE-2001-0191EG 10.0EPSS p92HIGH
- CVE-2001-0301EG 10.0EPSS p91HIGH
- CVE-2001-0197EG 10.0EPSS p96HIGH
- CVE-2001-0233EG 10.0EPSS p96HIGH
- CVE-2001-0010EG 10.0EPSS p98HIGH
Same CWE
10 shownCWE-269
Frequently asked(6)
What is CVE-2019-13272?
When was CVE-2019-13272 disclosed?
Is CVE-2019-13272 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2019-13272?
Which products are affected by CVE-2019-13272?
How do I remediate CVE-2019-13272?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2019-13272
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2019-13272?
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