CVE-2019-18197

In xsltCopyText in transform.c in libxslt 1.1.33, a pointer variable isn't reset under certain circumstances. If the relevant memory area happened to be freed and reused in a certain way, a bounds check could fail and memory outside a buffer could be written to, or uninitialized data could be disclosed.

Published: 2019-10-18 Last update: 2026-05-28 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-18197 is rated Moderate Risk (60.9/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 4.53%). Review affected assets and schedule 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-2019-18197

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 2026-03-19 4.77% 4.53% -0.24%
2 2025-12-28 2.61% 4.77% +2.16%
3 2025-12-27 — 2.61% —

Full EPSS history (27 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-18197

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/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: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: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.
 1.6 5.9 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/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: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: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.
 1.6 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
5.1 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:H/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:H)
Exploitation requires uncommon or highly specific conditions.
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.
 4.9 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-18197

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2019-18197

GHSA-242x-7cm6-4w8j · Severity: high · Ecosystem: rubygems — Nokogiri affected by libxslt Use of Uninitialized Resource/Use After Free vulnerability

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-18197

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2019-18197: 1 source package rows (libxslt); 10 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2019-18197
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-18197 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libxslt), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-18197
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-18197
suse high CVE-2019-18197 severity important: SUSE including 303 source package names (0.45.0.7.7.1:libxslt1-1.1.32-3.8.24, 1.19-3.1:libxslt1-1.1.32-3.8.24, …), 462 product×package rows across 121 product lines (Container caasp/v4/nginx-ingress-controller, Container ses/7.1/cephcsi/cephcsi, … (121 product lines)): Fixed 231, Known Affected 231. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-18197/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-18197 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libxslt), 6 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, disco, eoan, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 5, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-18197

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-18197

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
xmlsoft libxslt 1.1.33 cpe:2.3:a:xmlsoft:libxslt:1.1.33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 19.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:19.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 19.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:19.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-18197

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-02/msg00010.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-02/msg00015.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-02/msg00025.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-05/msg00062.html
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/11/17/2 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:0514
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/oss-fuzz/issues/detail?id=15746 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/oss-fuzz/issues/detail?id=15768 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/oss-fuzz/issues/detail?id=15914 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxslt/commit/2232473733b7313d67de8836ea3b29eec6e8e285 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/10/msg00037.html Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20191031-0004/ Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200416-0004/
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4164-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2020.html
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