How severe is CVE-2019-19882?

CVE-2019-19882 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.8, rated high severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.

Is CVE-2019-19882 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (39th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2019-19882?

CVE-2019-19882 affects Shadow Project Shadow. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.

How do I fix CVE-2019-19882?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.

When was CVE-2019-19882 published?

CVE-2019-19882 was published on 2019-12-18 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2019-19882

CVE-2019-19882 is a high-severity vulnerability in Shadow Project Shadow with a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.8. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-732.

Key facts

Severity: High (CVSS 3.x base score 7.8)
CVSS v2: 6.9
EPSS exploit prediction: 0% (39th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-732
Affected product: Shadow Project Shadow
Published: 2019-12-18
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

shadow 4.8, in certain circumstances affecting at least Gentoo, Arch Linux, and Void Linux, allows local users to obtain root access because setuid programs are misconfigured. Specifically, this affects shadow 4.8 when compiled using --with-libpam but without explicitly passing --disable-account-tools-setuid, and without a PAM configuration suitable for use with setuid account management tools. This combination leads to account management tools (groupadd, groupdel, groupmod, useradd, userdel, usermod) that can easily be used by unprivileged local users to escalate privileges to root in multiple ways. This issue became much more relevant in approximately December 2019 when an unrelated bug was fixed (i.e., the chmod calls to suidusbins were fixed in the upstream Makefile which is now included in the release version 4.8).

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-19882?: shadow 4.8, in certain circumstances affecting at least Gentoo, Arch Linux, and Void Linux, allows local users to obtain root access because setuid programs are misconfigured. Specifically, this affects shadow 4.8 when compiled using --with-libpam but without explicitly passing --disable-account-tools-setuid, and without a PAM configuration suitable for use with setuid account management tools. This combination leads to account management tools (groupadd, groupdel, groupmod, useradd, userdel, usermod) that can easily be used by unprivileged local users to escalate privileges to root in multiple ways. This issue became much more relevant in approximately December 2019 when an unrelated bug was fixed (i.e., the chmod calls to suidusbins were fixed in the upstream Makefile which is now included in the release version 4.8).
How severe is CVE-2019-19882?: CVE-2019-19882 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.8, rated high severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.
Is CVE-2019-19882 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (39th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2019-19882?: CVE-2019-19882 affects Shadow Project Shadow. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
How do I fix CVE-2019-19882?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
When was CVE-2019-19882 published?: CVE-2019-19882 was published on 2019-12-18 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (1)

cpe:2.3:a:shadow_project:shadow:4.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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