Skip to content
Noroxi
NVD / CVE Program· CNA canonical

CVE-2019-15790: Apport reads PID files with elevated privileges

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 13/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.52% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: Canonical Apport 2.20.11-0ubuntu16.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to Canonical Apport 2.20.11-0ubuntu16 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

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.

LowCVSS 3.3 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
Apr 27, 2020
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
0.5% · 44th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

13

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
13 / 40 · 3.3 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.5%

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
3.3
CNA · canonical
2.8
0.5 point gap

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2019-15790

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits instantly.

Your free account also gets you

Running WordPress? Scan your site free with WP Lens

  • Stack alerts: add the products and versions you run, get the new CVEs that affect them
  • Uptime monitoring: 1 site, instant email when it goes down
  • Add your domain: subdomains and takeover risk scanned every week (1 domain)
  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
  • All your scans in one panel: findings, what changed in the last scan, a report per domain or per client (PDF, share link)
All free tools

Sign up with email · Have an account? Sign in

Free account, no card. Unfollow any time.

Don't want an account? Get "Exploited this week" by email every MondayDon't want an account? RSS feed for apport project records

Running WordPress? Scan your site free with WP Lens

Is your version affected? Check it

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

We use this product, ask for help

Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
apport projectapport
canonicalubuntu linux

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • apport project apportall versions
  • canonical ubuntu linux14.04
  • canonical ubuntu linux16.04
  • canonical ubuntu linux18.04
  • canonical ubuntu linux19.04
  • canonical ubuntu linux19.10

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (canonical). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Canonical Apport

    • 2.14.1 and later · before 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.29+esm3affected
    • 2.20.1 and later · before 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.22affected
    • 2.20.9 and later · before 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.12affected
    • 2.20.11 and later · before 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.6affectedfixed in 2.20.11-0ubuntu16

Same product

apport project: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2015-1318The crash reporting feature in Apport 2.13 through 2.17.x before 2.17.1 allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted usr/share/apport
    40Plan
  • CVE-2016-9949An issue was discovered in Apport before 2.20.4.
    36Monitor
  • CVE-2016-9950An issue was discovered in Apport before 2.20.4.
    33Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2019-11483Feb 8, 2020 · Sander Bos discovered Apport mishandled crash dumps originating from containers.
    13Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2019-11485Feb 8, 2020 · apport created lock file in wrong directory
    13Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2022-28652Jun 4, 2024 · ~/.config/apport/settings parsing is vulnerable to "billion laughs" attack
    22Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
Canonical Apport2.20.11-0ubuntu16Vendor (CNA)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
low · data can be read
Integrity
none
Availability
none
Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
Low
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-250 · Execution with Unnecessary Privileges

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (7 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records