What is CVE-2019-15666?

CVE-2019-15666 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Out-of-bounds Read. CVSS score: 4.4/10. Published 2019-08-27.

How severe is CVE-2019-15666?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 4.4 out of 10.

Is CVE-2019-15666 known to be exploited?

13 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Out-of-bounds Read in Linux Kernel

CVE-2019-15666

An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel before 5.0.19. There is an out-of-bounds array access in __xfrm_policy_unlink, which will cause denial of service, because verify_newpolicy_info in net/xfrm/xfrm_user.c mishandles directory validation.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2019-08-27 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 4.4 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.017 (76.7th percentile), scored 2026-09-30.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 77th percentile — 76.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.017 · newest: 0.017 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Linux Kernel
Debian Linux — versions 8.0
openSUSE Leap — versions 15.0, 15.1

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-125 — Out-of-bounds Read

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/ (Patch, Vendor Advisory)
cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.0.19 (Release Notes)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/09/msg00014.html (mailing-list, Third Party Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/09/msg00015.html (mailing-list, Third Party Advisory)
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00064.html (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00066.html (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20191004-0001/ (Third Party Advisory)
support.f5.com/csp/article/K53420251

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-15666?: CVE-2019-15666 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Out-of-bounds Read. CVSS score: 4.4/10. Published 2019-08-27.
How severe is CVE-2019-15666?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 4.4 out of 10.
Is CVE-2019-15666 known to be exploited?: 13 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.