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CRITICAL

CVE-2019-5021

CVSS v3

9.8

CRITICAL

EPSS Score

6.3 %

exploit probability, as of 2026-10-18

CISA KEV

No

known exploited

Exploitation

—

SSVC status

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Affected and fixed versions

Neither OSV.dev nor the vendor advisories we read list affected versions for CVE-2019-5021 yet.

Full record on NVD

Description

Versions of the Official Alpine Linux Docker images (since v3.3) contain a NULL password for the `root` user. This vulnerability appears to be the result of a regression introduced in December of 2015. Due to the nature of this issue, systems deployed using affected versions of the Alpine Linux container which utilize Linux PAM, or some other mechanism which uses the system shadow file as an authentication database, may accept a NULL password for the `root` user.

Technical details

Published
2019-05-08

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-5021?

Versions of the Official Alpine Linux Docker images (since v3.3) contain a NULL password for the `root` user. This vulnerability appears to be the result of a regression introduced in December of 2015. Due to the nature of this issue, systems deployed using affected versions of the Alpine Linux container which utilize Linux PAM, or some other mechanism which uses the system shadow file as an authentication database, may accept a NULL password for the `root` user.

Is CVE-2019-5021 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2019-5021 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 6.3% on 2026-10-18, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2019-5021?

CVE-2019-5021 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL severity).

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