dbcve.org
Cloud PrivateApplication · Ibm

CVE-2019-4415

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-07-25
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
IBM Cloud Private 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 could allow a local user to obtain elevated privileges due to improper security context constraints. IBM X-Force ID: 162706.

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 confidence

IBM Cloud Private versions 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability where improper security context constraints allow a local user to gain elevated privileges. Security context constraints in IBM Cloud Private control Pod and container security settings, and misconfigurations can permit containers to run with elevated capabilities or as privileged containers, enabling local users to escape container isolation and obtain host-level access.

MitigationApply the IBM Cloud Private fix (contact IBM for updated version) and review security context constraints to ensure Pods cannot run as privileged or with excessive Linux capabilities. Implement least-privilege Pod Security Policies and validate container runtime restrictions.

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
Cloud PrivateApplication
Affected:= 3.1.1= 3.1.2

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
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 checks

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

  1. Verify IBM Cloud Private version
    Run 'kubectl get nodes -o wide' or check the ICP management console under Cluster > Nodes to identify the installed IBM Cloud Private version. Alternatively, check the version via 'cloudctl version' CLI tool if available.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 3.1.1 or 3.1.2
  2. Review Pod Security Policies
    Run 'kubectl get psp' to list all Pod Security Policies resources in the cluster. Examine each policy definition with 'kubectl get psp <policy-name> -o yaml' to check for allowPrivilegeEscalation, privileged, or excessive capabilities settings.
    Affected if Any Pod Security Policy allows privileged: true, allowPrivilegeEscalation: true, or grants capabilities beyond what is strictly necessary
  3. Check for privileged container deployments
    Run 'kubectl get all --all-namespaces -o jsonpath={..privileged}' to search across all namespaces for containers running in privileged mode. Also review any custom security context configurations in deployments.
    Affected if Any running pods have securityContext.privileged set to true or have hostPath volume mounts without justification
  4. Inspect container capability configurations
    Review existing Pod specs with 'kubectl get pods --all-namespaces -o yaml' and search for securityContext.capabilities.add entries. Compare against Kubernetes best practices for required capabilities.
    Affected if Containers are configured with capabilities such as SYS_ADMIN, NET_ADMIN, SYS_MODULE, or other elevated capabilities beyond what's needed for their function
  5. Audit role-based access control for security context modifications
    Check RBAC policies with 'kubectl get clusterrole -o yaml | grep -i privilege' to see if untrusted users or service accounts have permissions to create or modify pod security contexts.
    Affected if Users or service accounts beyond cluster administrators can create privileged pods or modify security context constraints

You are affected if you are running IBM Cloud Private version 3.1.1 or 3.1.2 AND you have any Pod Security Policies, deployments, or container configurations that permit privileged containers or elevated Linux capabilities.

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 IBM Cloud Private fix (contact IBM for updated version) and review security context constraints to ensure Pods cannot run as privileged or with excessive Linux capabilities. Implement least-privilege Pod Security Policies and validate container runtime restrictions.

Fix this in Cloud Private Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-4415 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2019-4415 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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