Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2019-14866 affects cpio before 2.13 when it creates TAR archives from attacker-controlled paths. A low-privileged user could cause the archive to include unexpected paths or permissions. If an administrator later extracts that archive without careful review, the system could be compromised.
Executive priority
Treat this as a targeted operational risk, not an internet-scale emergency. Prioritize systems where cpio is used in backup or packaging workflows involving shared or user-writable directories and privileged extraction.
Technical view
The flaw is improper input validation in cpio TAR archive generation, mapped to CWE-20. It is local, high-complexity, requires low privileges and user interaction, and carries high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact after privileged extraction. CVSS v3.0 score is 6.7.
Likely exposure
Unix or Linux systems with cpio before 2.13 are most exposed where backup, packaging, restore, CI, or admin workflows archive paths writable by untrusted users and later extract them with elevated privileges.
Exploitation context
The bundle does not show KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. Practical exploitation depends on attacker write access to archived paths and a privileged user extracting the resulting TAR archive without review.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports affected GNU cpio versions before 2.13 and a local archive-generation abuse path. The source bundle does not provide exploit code, public exploitation confirmation, or product scope beyond cpio and vendor package advisories.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade cpio to 2.13 or a vendor-supported patched package.
- Avoid creating TAR archives from attacker-writable paths with cpio.
- Do not extract untrusted cpio-produced TAR archives as a privileged user.
- Review archive paths and permissions before privileged extraction.
- Check Red Hat, Debian, or OS vendor advisories for package-specific guidance.
Validation and detection
- Inventory installed cpio versions across Linux and Unix assets.
- Identify automation that uses cpio to generate TAR archives.
- Check whether archived source paths are writable by low-privileged users.
- Review restore and extraction procedures for privileged TAR extraction.
- Confirm vendor package updates are applied where cpio is present.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-20: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2019-14866 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.7 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H0.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
6.7MediumVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-14866CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-cpio/2019-08/msg00003.htmlCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-cpio/2019-11/msg00000.htmlCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/06/msg00007.htmlCVE reference
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Input Validation
Improper Input Validation represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.