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FreeBSDOperating system

CVE-2019-15879

HIGH · 7.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-05-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
83/100
Remediation priority · High
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
In FreeBSD 12.1-STABLE before r356908, 12.1-RELEASE before p5, 11.3-STABLE before r356908, and 11.3-RELEASE before p9, a race condition in the cryptodev module permitted a data structure in the kernel to be used after it was freed, allowing an unprivileged process can overwrite arbitrary kernel memory.

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 race condition in FreeBSD's cryptodev module allows a kernel data structure to be accessed after it has been freed (use-after-free). This enables an unprivileged user process to potentially overwrite arbitrary kernel memory.

MitigationApply the FreeBSD security patches: update to 12.1-STABLE after r356908, 12.1-RELEASE p5 or later, 11.3-STABLE after r356908, or 11.3-RELEASE p9 or later.

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
FreeBSDOperating system
Affected:= 11.3= 12.1

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

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 the FreeBSD version
    Run 'uname -a' or 'freebsd-version -k' to determine the installed FreeBSD version
    Affected if The system is running FreeBSD 11.3 or 12.1 (unpatched)
  2. Check the installed kernel patch level
    Run 'freebsd-version -u' to see the patch level, or examine the kernel version string from 'uname -v'
    Affected if The patch level is earlier than the fixed versions (r356908 or later for STABLE, p5/p9 or later for RELEASE)
  3. Verify the cryptodev module status
    Run 'kldstat | grep cryptodev' to check if the cryptodev module is loaded, or check for /dev/crypto device
    Affected if The cryptodev module is loaded and the system is an unpatched 11.3 or 12.1 release

A system is affected if it runs an unpatched FreeBSD 11.3 or 12.1 with the cryptodev module loaded, and its version/patch level predates the r356908 commit or respective p5/p9 patches.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the FreeBSD security patches: update to 12.1-STABLE after r356908, 12.1-RELEASE p5 or later, 11.3-STABLE after r356908, or 11.3-RELEASE p9 or later.

Fix this in FreeBSD Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2019-15879 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