CVE-2019-14859

Exp

A flaw was found in all python-ecdsa versions before 0.13.3, where it did not correctly verify whether signatures used DER encoding. Without this verification, a malformed signature could be accepted, making the signature malleable. Without proper verification, an attacker could use a malleable signature to create false transactions.

Published: 2020-01-02 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-14859 is rated High Exploit Risk (78.3/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.60%). 2 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +1.53% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2019-14859

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-14859

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 0.07% 1.60% +1.53%
2 2025-11-21 0.17% 0.07% -0.10%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.17% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-14859

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.1 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N 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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 5.2 [email protected]
7.4 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N 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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 5.2 [email protected]
6.4 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N 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:N)
No availability impact.
 10.0 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-14859

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2019-14859

GHSA-8qxj-f9rh-9fg2 · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: pip — Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature in Pure-Python ECDSA

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-14859

vendor priority summary link
alpine critical CVE-2019-14859: 1 source package rows (py3-ecdsa); 7 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 7, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2019-14859
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-14859 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (python-ecdsa), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-14859
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-14859
suse medium CVE-2019-14859 severity moderate: SUSE including 255 source package names (0.1.75:python3-ecdsa-0.13.3-3.3.1, 1.1.1.0.1.5.57:python3-ecdsa-0.13.3-3.3.1, …), 304 product×package rows across 64 product lines (Container caasp/v4/k8s-sidecar, Container ses/6/cephcsi/cephcsi, … (64 product lines)): Known Affected 181, Fixed 122, Known Not Affected 1. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-14859/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-14859 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (python-ecdsa), 6 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, disco, eoan, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 5, DNE 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-14859

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-14859

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
python-ecdsa_project python-ecdsa < 0.13.3 cpe:2.3:a:python-ecdsa_project:python-ecdsa:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat ceph_storage 2.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ceph_storage:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat ceph_storage 3.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ceph_storage:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat openstack 10 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:openstack:10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat openstack 13 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:openstack:13:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat openstack 14 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:openstack:14:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat openstack 15 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:openstack:15:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat virtualization 4.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:virtualization:4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-14859

URL Tags
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-14859 Exploit Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/warner/python-ecdsa/issues/114 Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/warner/python-ecdsa/releases/tag/python-ecdsa-0.13.3 Release Notes Third Party Advisory
https://pypi.org/project/ecdsa/0.13.3/ Release Notes Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence