As a catastrophic security flaw, CVE-2019-17638 has severe implications, demanding immediate intervention.
Status: Modified
Last updated: 🕒 07 Nov 2023, 03:06 UTC
Originally published on: 🕕 09 Jul 2020, 18:15 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 1215 days
CVSS Release: version 3
nvd@nist.gov
Primary
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L
CVE-2019-17638: In Eclipse Jetty, versions 9.4.27.v20200227 to 9.4.29.v20200521, in case of too large response headers, Jetty throws an exception to produce an HTTP 431 error. When this happens, the ByteBuffer containing the HTTP response headers is released back to the ByteBufferPool twice. Because of this double release, two threads can acquire the same ByteBuffer from the pool and while thread1 is about to use the ByteBuffer to write response1 data, thread2 fills the ByteBuffer with other data. Thread1 then proceeds to write the buffer that now contains different data. This results in client1, which issued request1 seeing data from another request or response which could contain sensitive data belonging to client2 (HTTP session ids, authentication credentials, etc.). If the Jetty version cannot be upgraded, the vulnerability can be significantly reduced by configuring a responseHeaderSize significantly larger than the requestHeaderSize (12KB responseHeaderSize and 8KB requestHeaderSize).
The exploitability of CVE-2019-17638 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2019-17638 is an easy target for cybercriminals. Organizations should prioritize immediate mitigation measures to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2019-17638, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2019-17638, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.
EPSS Score: 1.118% (probability of exploit)
EPSS Percentile: 84.73%
(lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 15.269999999999996% of others.
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