CVE-2019-20916

Exp

The pip package before 19.2 for Python allows Directory Traversal when a URL is given in an install command, because a Content-Disposition header can have ../ in a filename, as demonstrated by overwriting the /root/.ssh/authorized_keys file. This occurs in _download_http_url in _internal/download.py.

Published: 2020-09-04 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-20916 is rated High Exploit Risk (67.2/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.62%). 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-2019-20916

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-20916

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 2025-11-21 2.73% 0.62% -2.10%
2 2025-11-18 0.64% 2.73% +2.09%
3 2025-03-30 — 0.64% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-20916

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:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful 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 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/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:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-20916

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2019-20916

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-20916

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-20916 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (python-pip), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-20916
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-20916
suse medium CVE-2019-20916 severity moderate: SUSE including 726 source package names (0.1.75:libpython3_6m1_0-3.6.12-3.75.1, 0.1.75:python3-3.6.12-3.75.1, …), 1834 product×package rows across 180 product lines (Container bci/python, Container caasp/v4/389-ds, … (180 product lines)): Fixed 1674, Known Affected 130, Known Not Affected 30. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-20916/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-20916 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (python-pip), 16 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 12, needed 2, released 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-20916

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-20916

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
pypa pip < 19.2 cpe:2.3:a:pypa:pip:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.1 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.2 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_cloud_native_core_network_function_cloud_native_environment 1.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_cloud_native_core_network_function_cloud_native_environment:1.10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_cloud_native_core_network_function_cloud_native_environment 22.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_cloud_native_core_network_function_cloud_native_environment:22.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_cloud_native_core_policy 1.15.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_cloud_native_core_policy:1.15.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-20916

cvelogic Threat Intelligence