CVE-2019-20919

An issue was discovered in the DBI module before 1.643 for Perl. The hv_fetch() documentation requires checking for NULL and the code does that. But, shortly thereafter, it calls SvOK(profile), causing a NULL pointer dereference.

Published: 2020-09-17 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2019-20919 is rated Low Risk (28.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.11%). Mandatory action: 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-2019-20919

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 2025-03-17 0.04% 0.11% +0.07%
2 2023-03-07 1.03% 0.04% -0.99%
3 2022-04-01 1.03%

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-20919

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.7 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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: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: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.
1.0 3.6 [email protected]
1.9 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:M/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:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
3.4 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-20919

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-20919

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-20919 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libdbi-perl), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-20919
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-20919
suse high CVE-2019-20919 severity important: SUSE including 241 source package names (10.11-36.1:perl-DBI-1.642-3.6.1, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 292 product×package rows across 62 product lines (Container suse/rmt-mariadb, HPE Helion OpenStack 8, … (62 product lines)): Known Affected 231, Fixed 61. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-20919/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-20919 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libdbi-perl), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bionic, focal, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 4, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-20919

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-20919

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
perl dbi < 1.643 cpe:2.3:a:perl:dbi:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 31 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:31:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:-:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.1 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.2 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-20919

cvelogic Threat Intelligence