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MEDIUMpublic exploit

CVE-2019-3842

CVE-2019-3842 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Intelligence

In systemd before v242-rc4, it was discovered that pam_systemd does not properly sanitize the environment before using the XDG_SEAT variable. It is possible for an attacker, in some particular configurations, to set a XDG_SEAT environment variable which allows for commands to be checked against polkit policies using the "allow_active" element rather than "allow_any".

Published Updated Sources: cvelistV5, redhat

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.

Exploitation

Exploit code

public exploit, none observed

EPSS

1%

chance of exploitation in 30 days

Affects

the systemd project

systemd

CVSS base

4.5

MEDIUM

CISA SSVC assessment

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses · SSVC 2.0.3. A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

CISA

Exploitation

None

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

No

can an attacker script all four kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Partial

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Affected scope

The catalog records vendors and products as separate lists, not pairs, so which product belongs to which vendor is not something this page can say.

Products (1)

systemd

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactSource
4.5CVSS 3.0MEDIUM——cvelistV5

Weakness & attack patterns

  • CWE-285

Attack patterns reported against this CVE. The ATT&CK techniques below are inferred from its weakness class.

  • T1574.010Hijack Execution Flow: ServicesFile Permissions Weakness
  • T1083File and Directory Discovery
  • T1562.003Impair Defenses: Impair Command History Logging

Public exploit

Capability, not use: code existing is a different claim from anyone running it.

Indexed by

exploit db

References

8 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.