CVE-2019-16115

Exp

In Xpdf 4.01.01, a stack-based buffer under-read could be triggered in IdentityFunction::transform in Function.cc, used by GfxAxialShading::getColor. It can, for example, be triggered by sending a crafted PDF document to the pdftoppm tool. It allows an attacker to use a crafted PDF file to cause Denial of Service or possibly unspecified other impact.

Published: 2019-09-08 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-16115 is rated Exploit Available (58.7/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.18%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). 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-2019-16115

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-16115

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 2025-03-30 0.45% 0.18% -0.27%
2 2025-03-29 0.18% 0.45% +0.27%
3 2025-03-19 — 0.18% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-16115

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/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:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
 8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-16115

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-16115

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2019-16115 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (xpdf), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-16115
suse medium CVE-2019-16115 severity moderate: SUSE including 43 source package names (libpoppler-cpp0, libpoppler-cpp0-0.43.0-16.28.1, …), 228 product×package rows across 50 product lines (SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP2, SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP3, … (50 product lines)): Known Not Affected 174, Fixed 54. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-16115/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-16115 medium priority: Ubuntu including 3 source packages (ipe, poppler, xpdf), 54 status rows across 18 suites (bionic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 26, ignored 14, needs-triage 9, DNE 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-16115

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-16115

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
glyphandcog xpdfreader 4.01.01 cpe:2.3:a:glyphandcog:xpdfreader:4.01.01:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-16115

URL Tags
https://forum.xpdfreader.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=41872 Exploit Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence