CVE-2019-11481: 
Linux Ubuntu vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2019-11481 is a security vulnerability discovered in Apport, Ubuntu's crash reporting system. Kevin Backhouse identified that Apport would read a user-supplied configuration file with elevated privileges. The vulnerability was disclosed in April 2019 and affected multiple versions of Ubuntu including 19.10, 19.04, 18.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS, and 14.04 LTS (Ubuntu Security).

The vulnerability stems from Apport reading its user-controlled settings file as the root user. This elevated privilege access to user-controlled files represents a security weakness in the system design. The vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS 3 Severity Score of 7.8 (High), with local attack vector, low attack complexity, and low privileges required for exploitation (Ubuntu Security).

By exploiting this vulnerability, a local attacker could replace the configuration file with a symbolic link, enabling them to read any file on the system as root. This could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive system files and potential information disclosure (Ubuntu Security Notice).

The vulnerability has been fixed in multiple Ubuntu versions with the following package updates: Ubuntu 19.10 (2.20.11-0ubuntu8.1), Ubuntu 19.04 (2.20.10-0ubuntu27.2), Ubuntu 18.04 (2.20.9-0ubuntu7.8), Ubuntu 16.04 (2.20.1-0ubuntu2.20), and Ubuntu 14.04 (2.14.1-0ubuntu3.29+esm2). Users are advised to perform a standard system update to apply the necessary patches (Ubuntu Security Notice, Ubuntu Security Notice).