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Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2019-10197

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-09-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.10.8 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A flaw was found in samba versions 4.9.x up to 4.9.13, samba 4.10.x up to 4.10.8 and samba 4.11.x up to 4.11.0rc3, when certain parameters were set in the samba configuration file. An unauthenticated attacker could use this flaw to escape the shared directory and access the contents of directories outside the share.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A path traversal vulnerability in Samba allows unauthenticated attackers to escape shared directories and access files outside the intended share boundaries when certain configuration parameters are set. This affects Samba versions 4.9.x through 4.9.13, 4.10.x through 4.10.8, and 4.11.x through 4.11.0rc3.

MitigationUpgrade Samba to version 4.9.14, 4.10.9, 4.11.0 or later, and audit share configurations to ensure appropriate access controls are in place.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 19.04
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 10.0
SambaApplication
Affected:>= 4.9.0, <= 4.9.13>= 4.10.0, <= 4.10.8= 4.9.0= 4.10.0= 4.11.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Samba version
    Run `smbstatus --version` or `samba --version` to obtain the installed Samba version number
    Affected if Version is 4.9.0 through 4.9.13, 4.10.0 through 4.10.8, or 4.11.0 through 4.11.0rc3
  2. List configured shares
    Run `smbclient -L localhost -N` or examine the smb.conf file (typically at /etc/samba/smb.conf) to list all configured SMB shares
    Affected if Any share is present on the system
  3. Check share configuration for traversal-allowing parameters
    Examine each share definition in smb.conf for parameters such as 'wide links = yes' or 'unix extensions = no' combined with symlinks that may allow directory traversal outside the share
    Affected if A share has 'wide links = yes' enabled, which permits following symlinks outside the share boundaries
  4. Verify share filesystem access boundaries
    Test accessing files outside a share using path traversal patterns (such as ../../../etc/passwd) via smbclient or a mounted share to confirm the vulnerability is exploitable
    Affected if Files outside the defined share directory are accessible via traversal sequences

A system is affected if Samba versions 4.9.0-4.9.13, 4.10.0-4.10.8, or 4.11.0-4.11.0rc3 are running with shares that have wide links enabled, allowing directory traversal outside share boundaries.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 4.10.8
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Samba to version 4.9.14, 4.10.9, 4.11.0 or later, and audit share configurations to ensure appropriate access controls are in place.

Recommended fix High confidence

Samba 4.9.14 or later, 4.10.9 or later, or 4.11.0rc4 or later (preferably the latest stable 4.11.x or 4.12.x)

  1. 1. Check the current Samba version: smbd --version or dpkg -l | grep samba
  2. 2. For Debian/Ubuntu systems: Run apt-get update && apt-get install samba to install the latest available package
  3. 3. For Red Hat/Fedora systems: Run yum update samba or dnf update samba
  4. 4. After upgrading, restart the Samba service: systemctl restart smbd (or service smb restart on older systems)
  5. 5. Verify the installed version is patched: smbd --version (should show 4.9.14+, 4.10.9+, or 4.11.0rc4+)
  6. 6. Test that the path traversal vulnerability is fixed by attempting to access a path outside the share (e.g., via smbclient with ../../../etc/passwd)
Caveat Major version upgrades (e.g., 4.9 to 4.11) may introduce configuration changes; review smb.conf for deprecated options. Test in non-production first.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-10197 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data