CVE-2019-3689
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 · uneditedThe nfs-utils package in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 before and including version 1.3.0-34.18.1 and in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 before and including version 2.1.1-6.10.2 the directory /var/lib/nfs is owned by statd:nogroup. This directory contains files owned and managed by root. If statd is compromised, it can therefore trick processes running with root privileges into creating/overwriting files anywhere on the system.
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 analysisFiles, directories, or resources ship with permissions more open than they need to be, so unintended users can read or modify them. Attackers look for exactly these loose defaults. Remediation means tightening permissions to the minimum required and verifying them at install and at runtime.
General guidance for the incorrect default permissions class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
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<= 1.3.0-34.18.1<= 2.1.1-6.10.2CVSS 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
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 · scopednfs-utils > 1.3.0-34.18.1 for SLES 12; nfs-utils > 2.1.1-6.10.2 for SLES 15
- Obtain the vendor patch from https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1150733
- Apply the SUSE security update for nfs-utils to your system
- For SLES 12: Update to nfs-utils version greater than 1.3.0-34.18.1
- For SLES 15: Update to nfs-utils version greater than 2.1.1-6.10.2
- Verify after update that /var/lib/nfs directory is owned by root:root and not statd:nogroup
- Restart any NFS services if required to ensure the fixed permissions are applied
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-3689 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-3689 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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