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Enterprise LinuxOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2019-3816

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-03-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
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
Openwsman, versions up to and including 2.6.9, are vulnerable to arbitrary file disclosure because the working directory of openwsmand daemon was set to root directory. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted HTTP request to openwsman server.

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

Openwsman daemon versions up to 2.6.9 run with their working directory set to the root directory (/), enabling path traversal attacks. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can send HTTP requests with '../' sequences to read arbitrary files on the system.

MitigationChange the openwsmand daemon's working directory to a non-root location (e.g., /var/lib/openwsman) in the service configuration, and apply path sanitization to prevent directory traversal in HTTP request handling.

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
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
Enterprise Linux EusOperating system
Affected:= 8.1= 8.2= 8.4
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
Enterprise Linux Server AusOperating system
Affected:= 7.6= 8.2= 8.4
Enterprise Linux Server EusOperating system
Affected:= 7.6
Enterprise Linux Server TusOperating system
Affected:= 7.6= 8.2= 8.4
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
Affected:= 7.0

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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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. Check if openwsman is installed
    Run 'rpm -qa | grep openwsman' or 'dpkg -l | grep openwsman' to list installed openwsman packages
    Affected if openwsman package is installed and version is 2.6.9 or lower, or version matches the affected RHEL ranges (7.0, 7.6, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.4)
  2. Verify openwsman service is running
    Run 'systemctl status openwsman' or 'service openwsman status' to check if the daemon is active and listening
    Affected if the openwsman daemon service is running and listening on a network port (default port 5985/5986)
  3. Check service working directory configuration
    Inspect the openwsman service unit file at /etc/systemd/system/openwsman.service.d/ or /lib/systemd/system/openwsman.service to see if 'WorkingDirectory' is set to '/' (root)
    Affected if WorkingDirectory is set to '/' or is unset (defaults to root), which allows path traversal to succeed
  4. Test for path traversal vulnerability
    Send an HTTP request with '../' sequences to the openwsman endpoint, for example: 'curl http://localhost:5985/../../../etc/passwd' or similar path traversal pattern
    Affected if the request successfully returns content from files outside the intended openwsman directory

You are affected if openwsman is installed with version 2.6.9 or lower, the daemon is running with working directory set to root (/), and the service is network-accessible enabling unauthenticated path traversal attacks.

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

Change the openwsmand daemon's working directory to a non-root location (e.g., /var/lib/openwsman) in the service configuration, and apply path sanitization to prevent directory traversal in HTTP request handling.

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2019-3816 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
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