Environment Variable Misconfiguration in systemd Affects Linux Distributions
CVE-2019-3842

4.5MEDIUM

Key Information:

Vendor: The Systemd Project
Status: Systemd
Vendor: CVE Published:; 9 April 2019

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👾 Exploit Exists🟡 Public PoC

What is CVE-2019-3842?

A flaw was identified in systemd prior to version 242-rc4 where pam_systemd fails to adequately sanitize the environment before processing the XDG_SEAT variable. In certain configurations, this vulnerability could enable an attacker to manipulate the XDG_SEAT environment variable, potentially facilitating unauthorized command checks against polkit policies with elevated privileges. This misconfiguration heightens the risk of security breaches, allowing for exploitable scenarios in environments utilizing systemd.

Affected Version(s)

systemd v242-rc4

Exploit Proof of Concept (PoC)

PoC code is written by security researchers to demonstrate the vulnerability can be exploited. PoC code is also a key component for weaponization which could lead to ransomware.

CVE-2019-3842 - Proof of Concept

References

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-3842

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https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-ann...

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https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/46743/

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CVSS V3.1

Score:

4.5

Severity:

MEDIUM

Confidentiality:

Low

Integrity:

Low

Availability:

Low

Attack Vector:

Local

Attack Complexity:

High

Privileges Required:

Low

User Interaction:

None

Scope:

Unchanged

CVSS V3.0