CVE-2019-3699
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 · uneditedUNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following vulnerability in the packaging of privoxy on openSUSE Leap 15.1, Factory allows local attackers to escalate from user privoxy to root. This issue affects: openSUSE Leap 15.1 privoxy version 3.0.28-lp151.1.1 and prior versions. openSUSE Factory privoxy version 3.0.28-2.1 and prior versions.
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 · moderate confidenceA symlink following vulnerability in the privoxy package installation on openSUSE Leap 15.1 and Factory allows local privilege escalation from the privoxy service user to root by manipulating symbolic links during package operations.
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< 3.0.28-lp151.1.1< 3.0.28-2.1CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if privoxy package is installedRun 'rpm -q privoxy' or 'dpkg -l | grep privoxy' depending on package managerAffected if privoxy package is installed and version is below 3.0.28-lp151.1.1 (Leap 15.1) or below 3.0.28-2.1 (Factory)
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Identify installed privoxy versionRun 'rpm -qi privoxy' or 'dpkg -s privxy' to get exact version number, then compare against affected rangesAffected if version is lower than 3.0.28-lp151.1.1 on Leap 15.1 or lower than 3.0.28-2.1 on Factory
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Check if privoxy service user existsRun 'id privoxy' or check /etc/passwd for privoxy user entryAffected if privoxy user exists (indicates privoxy was installed as a service, enabling the escalation path)
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Verify privoxy directories for world-writable symlinksRun 'ls -la /var/lib/privoxy/' and 'ls -la /etc/privoxy/' checking for symlinks (shown as 'l' in first column) with world-writable permissionsAffected if symlinks exist in privoxy directories with permissive permissions that could be manipulated during package operations
You are affected if privoxy is installed with a version lower than 3.0.28-lp151.1.1 (Leap 15.1) or 3.0.28-2.1 (Factory) AND the privoxy service user exists, as this creates the privilege escalation vector from the service user to root.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 data3.0.28-lp151.1.13.0.28-2.1
Update privoxy to a version newer than 3.0.28-lp151.1.1 on Leap 15.1 or 3.0.28-2.1 on Factory to resolve the symlink vulnerability; alternatively, apply vendor-supplied security patches.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-3699 — 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-2019-3699 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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