# CVE-2019-3901: Race condition in kernel

> Local attackers can exploit a race condition in perf_event_open to leak sensitive data from setuid programs and potentially escalate privileges.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.6 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/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:** 22 Apr 2019
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2019-3901, GHSA-7w4w-2hxm-8cc6, UBUNTU-CVE-2019-3901

## What is CVE-2019-3901?

CVE-2019-3901 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 22 Apr 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A race condition in perf_event_open() allows local attackers to leak sensitive data from setuid programs. As no relevant locks (in particular the cred_guard_mutex) are held during the ptrace_may_access() call, it is possible for the specified target task to perform an execve() syscall with setuid execution before perf_event_alloc() actually attaches to it, allowing an attacker to bypass the ptrace_may_access() check and the perf_event_exit_task(current) call that is performed in install_exec_creds() during privileged execve() calls. This issue affects kernel versions before 4.8.

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-3901?

It affects 10 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel, Netapp Active Iq Unified Manager for Vmware Vsphere, Netapp Cn1610 Firmware, Netapp Hci Management Node, Netapp Snapprotect, Netapp Solidfire, Netapp Storage Replication Adapter for Clustered Data Ontap for Vmware Vsphere, Netapp Vasa Provider for Clustered Data Ontap, Netapp Virtual Storage Console for Vmware Vsphere.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-3901?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2019-3901 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-3901 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-3901 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-3901 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 22 Apr 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-2019-3901 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian 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-2019-3901/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3901/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-3901
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-3901
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-3901

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3901/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.