CVE-2019-3842

HIGHNVD 7.07.0—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 7.0 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2022-05-13. NVD baseline CVSS 7.0; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Weaponized
7.0EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • Public exploit code is available (Exploit-DB (verified), public exploit)
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 1%CVSS: 7.0Exploit: Exploit-DB (verified) · public exploitExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

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".

CVSS v3
7.0
EG Score
7.0(medium)
EG Risk
57(Track)
EG Risk 57/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity70% × 45%
Exploitation65% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
1%
EPSS %ILE
67%
KEV
Not listed

Published

April 9, 2019

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

References (16)

Patch Availability(3)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntuudev-udeb (237-3ubuntu10.19) @ bionic2026-05-27ubuntu
redhatsystemd-0:239-31.el8_2.72021-10-19redhat
redhatsystemd-0:239-45.el82021-05-18redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(6 across 6 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
systemd—241-3—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
systemd—241-3—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
systemd—241-3—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
systemd—241-3—
Debian:8(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
systemd215-17 ... 215-17+deb8u9 (12 versions)215-17+deb8u12—
Debian:9(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
systemd232-25 ... 232-25+deb9u9 (11 versions)232-25+deb9u11—

Weakness Classification(2)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

All Vendor Advisories

(4)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 6× in last 7d / 21× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 143 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-09-18 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-09-17 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-09-16 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-09-15 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-09-13 16:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-09-12 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-09-11 14:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-09-11 09:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-09-08 21:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-09-08 13:34 UTCOSV refresh
  11. 2026-09-07 15:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-09-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-09-05 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-09-02 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-09-01 03:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-08-30 01:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-08-27 14:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-08-26 14:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-08-25 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-08-22 00:11 UTCOSV refresh
  22. 2026-08-19 17:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-08-18 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-08-17 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-08-15 01:26 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-08-13 21:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-12 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-09 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-08-08 16:33 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-08-07 16:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-06 05:24 UTCOSV refresh
  7. 2026-08-05 19:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-08-04 15:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-08-04 10:34 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-08-03 10:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-08-02 02:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-08-01 04:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-30 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-07-30 01:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-07-28 15:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-26 14:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-07-25 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-07-24 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-07-23 01:45 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-07-22 22:25 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-07-22 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-07-20 18:32 UTCOSV refresh
  26. 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-07-18 10:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-07-15 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-07-13 22:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-07-13 22:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-07-12 05:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-07-11 08:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-07-11 08:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-07-09 19:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  43. 2026-07-08 15:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  44. 2026-07-07 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  48. 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-07-05 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  50. 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-07-03 13:56 UTCOSV refresh
  52. 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  53. 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  54. 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  55. 2026-06-29 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-06-28 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  57. 2026-06-28 04:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  58. 2026-06-28 04:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  59. 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  60. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  61. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  62. 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  63. 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  64. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  65. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  66. 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  67. 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  68. 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  69. 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  70. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  71. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  72. 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  73. 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  74. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  75. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(1 reference)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Exploit-DBEDB-46743✓ verified
    First seen Apr 23, 2019

    systemd - Lack of Seat Verification in PAM Module Permits Spoofing Active Session to polkit

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2019-3842?
CVE-2019-3842 is a high vulnerability published on April 9, 2019. In systemd before v242-rc4, it was discovered that pamsystemd does not properly sanitize the environment before using the XDGSEAT variable. It is possible for an attacker, in some particular configurations, to set a XDGSEAT environment variable which allows for commands to be checked against polkit…
When was CVE-2019-3842 disclosed?
CVE-2019-3842 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on April 9, 2019, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2019-3842 actively exploited?
CVE-2019-3842 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 33.1% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2019-3842?
CVE-2019-3842 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.0 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2019-3842?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2019-3842, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2019-3842

Explore →

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2019-3842?

EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.

Start Free Scan →Browse All CVEs