CVE-2019-15791

HIGHNVD 7.17.1—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

This high-severity CVE scores 7.1 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 0.1%, top 68% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: epss, nvd
Weaponized
7.1
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 1%CVSS: 7.1Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

In shiftfs, a non-upstream patch to the Linux kernel included in the Ubuntu 5.0 and 5.3 kernel series, shiftfs_btrfs_ioctl_fd_replace() installs an fd referencing a file from the lower filesystem without taking an additional reference to that file. After the btrfs ioctl completes this fd is closed, which then puts a reference to that file, leading to a refcount underflow.

CVSS v3
7.1
EG Score
7.1(medium)
EPSS
67.4%
KEV
Not listed

Published

April 24, 2020

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

References (6)

Weakness Classification(2)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 42× 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.

  1. 2026-07-11 08:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-09 19:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-08 15:11 UTCEPSS rescore
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  10. 2026-07-02 16:56 UTCEPSS rescore
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  13. 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
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  15. 2026-06-29 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
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  17. 2026-06-28 04:54 UTCEPSS rescore
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  19. 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
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  21. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
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  1. 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
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  4. 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
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  6. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
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  8. 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
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  18. 2026-06-11 13:58 UTCEPSS rescore
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  20. 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-10 13:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-08 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-07 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
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  37. 2026-05-31 22:29 UTCEPSS rescore
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  39. 2026-05-31 00:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-05-31 00:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-05-29 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  43. 2026-05-27 13:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  44. 2026-05-27 04:19 UTCEG score recompute
  45. 2026-05-27 04:19 UTCGHSA enrichment
  46. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  48. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(1 reference)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Exploit-DBEDB-47693✓ verified
    First seen Nov 20, 2019

    Ubuntu 19.10 - Refcount Underflow and Type Confusion in shiftfs

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2019-15791?
CVE-2019-15791 is a high vulnerability published on April 24, 2020. In shiftfs, a non-upstream patch to the Linux kernel included in the Ubuntu 5.0 and 5.3 kernel series, shiftfsbtrfsioctlfdreplace() installs an fd referencing a file from the lower filesystem without taking an additional reference to that file. After the btrfs ioctl completes this fd is closed,…
When was CVE-2019-15791 disclosed?
CVE-2019-15791 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on April 24, 2020, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2019-15791 actively exploited?
CVE-2019-15791 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 67.4% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2019-15791?
CVE-2019-15791 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.1 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2019-15791?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2019-15791, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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