Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2019-15031

In the Linux kernel through 5.2.14 on the powerpc platform, a local user can read vector registers of other users' processes via an interrupt. To exploit the venerability, a local user starts a transaction (via the hardware transactional memory instruction tbegin) and then accesses vector registers. At some point, the vector registers will be corrupted with the values from a different local Linux process, because MSR_TM_ACTIVE is misused in arch/powerpc/kernel/process.c.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 4.4, requiring local system access to exploit with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts limited data confidentiality, and limited availability for affected systems. Impacting 4 products from linux, from canonical, from opensuse and 1 other, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2019, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.

Published

2019-09-13T13:15:11.557

Last Modified

2024-11-21T04:27:54.680

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 4.4 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:P

Access Vector: LOCAL
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
Integrity Impact: NONE
Availability Impact: PARTIAL

Exploitability Score

3.9

Impact Score

4.9

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-662

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Operating System	linux	linux_kernel	≤ 5.2.14	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	12.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	14.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	16.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	18.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	19.04	Yes
Operating System	opensuse	leap	15.0	Yes
Operating System	opensuse	leap	15.1	Yes
Operating System	redhat	enterprise_linux	7.0	Yes
Operating System	redhat	enterprise_linux	8.0	Yes

References

http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00064.html Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00066.html Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/09/10/4 Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a8318c13e79badb92bc6640704a64cc022a6eb97 Exploit, Mailing List, Patch, Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20191004-0001/ Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4135-1/ Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4135-2/ Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00064.html Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00066.html Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/09/10/4 Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a8318c13e79badb92bc6640704a64cc022a6eb97 Exploit, Mailing List, Patch, Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20191004-0001/ Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4135-1/ Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4135-2/ Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For linux's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.