CVE-2019-6974

HIGHNVD 8.18.1—Weaponized

8.1

In the Linux kernel before 4.20.8, kvm_ioctl_create_device in virt/kvm/kvm_main.c mishandles reference counting because of a race condition, leading to a use-after-free.

CVSS v3: 8.1
EG Score: 8.1(medium)
EPSS: 92.1%
KEV: Not listed

Published

February 15, 2019

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

References (56)

Patch Availability(13)

Vendor / Ecosystem	Fixed in / Patch	Released	Source
ubuntu	linux-image-virtual-hwe-18.04 (4.18.0.17.67) @ bionic	2026-05-27	ubuntu
ubuntu	linux-image-virtual-hwe-16.04-edge (4.15.0.47.49) @ bionic	2026-05-27	ubuntu
ubuntu	linux-image-virtual-hwe-16.04 (4.15.0.47.68) @ xenial	2026-05-27	ubuntu
ubuntu	linux-image-aws (4.18.0.1012.12) @ cosmic	2026-05-27	ubuntu
ubuntu	linux-image-virtual-lts-xenial (4.4.0.145.153) @ xenial	2026-05-27	ubuntu
ubuntu	linux-image-virtual-lts-xenial (4.4.0.144.127) @ trusty	2026-05-27	ubuntu
ubuntu	linux-image-3.13.0-168-generic-lpae (3.13.0-168.218~precise1) @ precise	2026-05-27	ubuntu
ubuntu	linux-image-virtual (3.13.0.168.179) @ trusty	2026-05-27	ubuntu
redhat	kernel-0:3.10.0-693.62.1.el7	2020-01-14	redhat
redhat	kernel-0:3.10.0-862.44.2.el7	2019-11-26	redhat
redhat	kernel-alt-0:4.14.0-115.12.1.el7a	2019-09-20	redhat
redhat	kernel-rt-0:3.10.0-957.12.1.rt56.927.el7	2019-04-23	redhat
redhat	kernel-0:3.10.0-957.12.1.el7	2019-04-23	redhat

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.

Weakness Classification(2)

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

All Vendor Advisories

(13)

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 11× in last 7d / 20× in last 30d)

Every time one of our enrichment pipelines (NVD, MITRE cvelistV5, EPSS, CISA KEV, GHSA, OSV, vendor advisories) ran against this CVE. Most recent first.

2026-06-02 20:11 UTCepss_batch
2026-06-02 20:11 UTCepss_batch
2026-06-01 13:50 UTCepss_batch
2026-06-01 13:50 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-31 22:29 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-31 22:29 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-31 00:14 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-31 00:14 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-29 13:42 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-28 13:43 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-28 13:43 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-27 22:31 UTCEG score recompute
2026-05-27 22:31 UTCVendor advisory
2026-05-27 22:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
2026-05-27 13:39 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-27 13:38 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-27 04:44 UTCOSV refresh
2026-05-26 13:42 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-26 07:17 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-26 07:17 UTCepss_batch

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-46388✓ verified
First seen Feb 15, 2019
Linux - 'kvm_ioctl_create_device()' NULL Pointer Dereference
Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2019-6974?

CVE-2019-6974 is a high vulnerability published on February 15, 2019. In the Linux kernel before 4.20.8, kvmioctlcreatedevice in virt/kvm/kvmmain.c mishandles reference counting because of a race condition, leading to a use-after-free.

When was CVE-2019-6974 disclosed?

CVE-2019-6974 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on February 15, 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-2019-6974 actively exploited?

CVE-2019-6974 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 92.1% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.

What is the CVSS score of CVE-2019-6974?

CVE-2019-6974 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.1 (NVD).

How do I remediate CVE-2019-6974?

Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2019-6974, 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-2019-6974

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CVE-2019-6974

Published

Last Modified

References (56)

Patch Availability(13)

Weakness Classification(2)

All Vendor Advisories

Data Freshness Timeline

Publicly available exploits

Frequently asked(5)

Dependency Blast Radius

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2019-6974?

Same vendor

Same CWE

CVE-2019-6974

📅 Published

🔄 Last Modified

🔗 References (56)

Patch Availability(13)

Weakness Classification(2)

All Vendor Advisories

Data Freshness Timeline

Publicly available exploits

❓ Frequently asked(5)

Dependency Blast Radius

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2019-6974?

🔗 Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)

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Last Modified

References (56)

Frequently asked(5)

Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)