How severe is CVE-2019-5023?

CVE-2019-5023 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.9, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over network with high attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.

Is CVE-2019-5023 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (50th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2019-5023?

CVE-2019-5023 primarily affects Opensrcsec Grsecurity. In total, 3 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.

How do I fix CVE-2019-5023?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.

When was CVE-2019-5023 published?

CVE-2019-5023 was published on 2019-10-31 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2019-5023

CVE-2019-5023 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Opensrcsec Grsecurity with a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.9. 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-772.

Key facts

Severity: Medium (CVSS 3.x base score 5.9)
CVSS v2: 4.3
EPSS exploit prediction: 1% (50th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-772
Affected product: Opensrcsec Grsecurity
Published: 2019-10-31
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

An exploitable vulnerability exists in the grsecurity PaX patch for the function read_kmem, in PaX from version pax-linux-4.9.8-test1 to 4.9.24-test7, grsecurity official from version grsecurity-3.1-4.9.8-201702060653 to grsecurity-3.1-4.9.24-201704252333, grsecurity unofficial from version v4.9.25-unofficialgrsec to v4.9.74-unofficialgrsec. PaX adds a temp buffer to the read_kmem function, which is never freed when an invalid address is supplied. This results in a memory leakage that can lead to a crash of the system. An attacker needs to induce a read to /dev/kmem using an invalid address to exploit this vulnerability.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-5023?: An exploitable vulnerability exists in the grsecurity PaX patch for the function read_kmem, in PaX from version pax-linux-4.9.8-test1 to 4.9.24-test7, grsecurity official from version grsecurity-3.1-4.9.8-201702060653 to grsecurity-3.1-4.9.24-201704252333, grsecurity unofficial from version v4.9.25-unofficialgrsec to v4.9.74-unofficialgrsec. PaX adds a temp buffer to the read_kmem function, which is never freed when an invalid address is supplied. This results in a memory leakage that can lead to a crash of the system. An attacker needs to induce a read to /dev/kmem using an invalid address to exploit this vulnerability.
How severe is CVE-2019-5023?: CVE-2019-5023 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.9, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over network with high attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2019-5023 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (50th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2019-5023?: CVE-2019-5023 primarily affects Opensrcsec Grsecurity. In total, 3 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2019-5023?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
When was CVE-2019-5023 published?: CVE-2019-5023 was published on 2019-10-31 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

https://talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2019-0784

Affected products (3)

cpe:2.3:a:opensrcsec:grsecurity:*:*:*:*:official:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:opensrcsec:grsecurity:*:*:*:*:unofficial:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:opensrcsec:pax:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Other CWE-772 vulnerabilities

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CVE-2020-14339 — High (CVSS 8.8): A flaw was found in libvirt, where it leaked a file descriptor for `/dev/mapper/control` into the QEMU process. This…
CVE-2018-19760 — High (CVSS 8.8): cfg_init in confuse.c in libConfuse 3.2.2 has a memory leak.

Browse all CWE-772 vulnerabilities →