CVE-2019-14842

Structured reply is a feature of the newstyle NBD protocol allowing the server to send a reply in chunks. A bounds check which was supposed to test for chunk offsets smaller than the beginning of the request did not work because of signed/unsigned confusion. If one of these chunks contains a negative offset then data under control of the server is written to memory before the read buffer supplied by the client. If the read buffer is located on the stack then this allows the stack return address from nbd_pread() to be trivially modified, allowing arbitrary code execution under the control of the server. If the buffer is located on the heap then other memory objects before the buffer can be overwritten, which again would usually lead to arbitrary code execution.

Published: 2019-11-26 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2019-14842 is rated High Risk (67.5/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.85%). Core evidence: EPSS rose +1.63% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-14842

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.22% 1.85% +1.63%
2 2025-11-21 0.80% 0.22% -0.58%
3 2025-11-18 0.80%

Full EPSS history (18 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-14842

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.9 5.9 [email protected]
7.3 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
3.9 3.4 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-14842

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-14842

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-14842 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libnbd), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-14842
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-14842
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-14842 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libnbd), 6 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, disco, eoan, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 5, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-14842

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-14842

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
redhat libnbd < 1.0.3 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:libnbd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-14842

cvelogic Threat Intelligence