CVE-2019-20808

In QEMU 4.1.0, an out-of-bounds read flaw was found in the ATI VGA implementation. It occurs in the ati_cursor_define() routine while handling MMIO write operations through the ati_mm_write() callback. A malicious guest could abuse this flaw to crash the QEMU process, resulting in a denial of service.

Published: 2020-12-31 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-20808 is rated Low Risk (37.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.12%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2019-20808

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 2025-12-04 0.16% 0.12% -0.04%
2 2025-12-02 0.11% 0.16% +0.04%
3 2025-10-12 — 0.11% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-20808

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.0 4.0 [email protected]
2.1 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 3.9 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-20808

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-20808

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-20808 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (qemu), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-20808
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-20808
suse medium CVE-2019-20808 severity moderate: SUSE including 25 source package names (kvm, qemu, …), 392 product×package rows across 66 product lines (SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP2, SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP3, … (66 product lines)): Known Not Affected 392. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-20808/
ubuntu low CVE-2019-20808 low priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (qemu, qemu-kvm), 12 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, eoan, focal, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 5, not-affected 4, needs-triage 2, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-20808

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-20808

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
qemu qemu 4.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:qemu:qemu:4.1.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-20808

cvelogic Threat Intelligence