# CVE-2019-12749: Path traversal in n/a > A symlink mishandling in D-Bus allows attackers to spoof authentication cookies, potentially bypassing authentication and escalating privileges. - **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`) - **Exploited in the wild:** Not known - **Login needed:** Any signed-in user - **Attackable:** Local or same network only - **Victim action needed:** Not needed - **Fix available:** Yes - **Published:** 11 Jun 2019 - **Updated:** 13 Feb 2026 - **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2019-12749, AZL-6371, DEBIAN-CVE-2019-12749, DLA-1818-1, DSA-4462-1, GHSA-2hpj-v4f4-7g4j, MGASA-2019-0339, RHSA-2019:1726, RHSA-2019:2868, RHSA-2019:2870, RHSA-2019:3707, RHSA-2020:4032, SUSE-SU-2019:14111-1, SUSE-SU-2019:1521-1, SUSE-SU-2019:1591-1, SUSE-SU-2019:1595-1, SUSE-SU-2019:1597-1, SUSE-SU-2019:2820-2, SUSE-SU-2020:1672-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2019-12749, USN-4015-1, USN-4015-2, openSUSE-SU-2019:1604-1, openSUSE-SU-2019:1671-1, openSUSE-SU-2019:1750-1 ## What is CVE-2019-12749? CVE-2019-12749 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 11 Jun 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim. ### Official description dbus before 1.10.28, 1.12.x before 1.12.16, and 1.13.x before 1.13.12, as used in DBusServer in Canonical Upstart in Ubuntu 14.04 (and in some, less common, uses of dbus-daemon), allows cookie spoofing because of symlink mishandling in the reference implementation of DBUS_COOKIE_SHA1 in the libdbus library. (This only affects the DBUS_COOKIE_SHA1 authentication mechanism.) A malicious client with write access to its own home directory could manipulate a ~/.dbus-keyrings symlink to cause a DBusServer with a different uid to read and write in unintended locations. In the worst case, this could result in the DBusServer reusing a cookie that is known to the malicious client, and treating that cookie as evidence that a subsequent client connection came from an attacker-chosen uid, allowing authentication bypass. Weakness: CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-12749? It affects 2 products. | Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | `dbus` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-doc` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-x11` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-doc` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-x11` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-doc` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-x11` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-doc` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus-x11` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::workstation | All versions | 1:1.2.24-11.el6_10 | | `dbus` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus-doc` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus-tests` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus-x11` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus-doc` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus-tests` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus-x11` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | | `dbus-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 1:1.10.24-15.el7 | Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Freedesktop Dbus. ## How do I fix CVE-2019-12749? Upgrade to a fixed version. ## Is CVE-2019-12749 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-12749 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux - [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2019-12749 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2019-12749 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 11 Jun 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-12749 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page. Task: 1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies. 2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it. 3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead. 4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why. 5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing. Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12749/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12749/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-12749 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-12749 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-12749 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12749/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.