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Status published
Medium
CVE-2019-3842
In systemd before v242-rc4, it was discovered that pam_systemd does...
Vulnerability Description
In systemd before v242-rc4, it was discovered that pam_systemd does not properly sanitize the environment before using the XDG_SEAT variable. It is possible for an attacker, in some particular configurations, to set a XDG_SEAT environment variable which allows for commands to be checked against polkit policies using the "allow_active" element rather than "allow_any".
Impact Analysis
Refer to official advisory for detailed impact metrics.
Remediation
Ensure systems are updated to the latest vendor-supplied patch levels.
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Credits & Attribution
No credits recorded in the NVD database.
References
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-3842
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/STR36RJE4ZZIORMDXRERVBHMPRNRTHAC/
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/46743/
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152610/systemd-Seat-Verification-Active-Session-Spoofing.html
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/04/msg00022.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-05/msg00062.html
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf4c02775860db415b4955778a131c2795223f61cb8c6a450893651e4%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r58af02e294bd07f487e2c64ffc0a29b837db5600e33b6e698b9d696b%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E
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Affected Vendor
The systemd Project
View all reports →Affected Software
systemd
Vulnerable Versions:
v242-rc4
Timeline
Official Publish:
April 9th, 2019
Last Modified:
June 9th, 2025
Added to House:
July 20th, 2026
CVSS Vectors
V3:
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L