CVE-2019-18899

Privilege escalation via root symlink writes

Published Jan 23, 2020 · Updated Sep 17, 2024

Improper privilege management in openSUSE Leap 15.1 apt-cacher-ng before 3.1-lp151.3.3.1 allows local users to write privileged files. The openSUSE systemd unit runs the daemon as root while /run/apt-cacher-ng remains owned by the unprivileged apt-cacher-ng account, so attacker-created symlinks redirect root writes. Control of that local service account and a service restart are required; replacing its Unix socket can also hijack privileged client connections.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.26%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Improper privilege management in openSUSE Leap 15.1 apt-cacher-ng before 3.1-lp151.3.3.1 allows local users to write privileged files. The openSUSE systemd unit runs the daemon as root while /run/apt-cacher-ng remains owned by the unprivileged apt-cacher-ng account, so attacker-created symlinks redirect root writes. Control of that local service account and a service restart are required; replacing its Unix socket can also hijack privileged client connections.

The record

CVE
CVE-2019-18899
Published
Jan 23, 2020
Updated
Sep 17, 2024
Vendor
OpenSUSE
Product
openSUSE Leap
Classifications
CWE-269, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 23, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 17, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=apt-cacher-ng <3.1-lp151.3.3.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

OpenSUSE · openSUSE Leapversion=apt-cacher-ng <3.1-lp151.3.3.1

Published CVSS scores

2.1NIST NVDAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-269Improper Privilege Management
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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