CVE-2019-14195
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAn issue was discovered in Das U-Boot through 2019.07. There is an unbounded memcpy with unvalidated length at nfs_readlink_reply in the "else" block after calculating the new path length.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceA buffer overflow vulnerability exists in Das U-Boot's NFS client implementation. The nfs_readlink_reply function contains an unbounded memcpy call where the length is not validated against the destination buffer size, allowing a malicious NFS server to overflow the buffer and potentially achieve code execution on the target device.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 2019.07CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify U-Boot versionAt the U-Boot bootloader prompt, type 'version' to display the installed U-Boot version. Alternatively, if you have access to the U-Boot binary file, use 'strings' or check the build timestamp: strings u-boot.bin | grep -i 'U-Boot 20'Affected if The version displayed is 2019.07 or earlier (e.g., 2019.07, 2019.04, 2018.x, etc.)
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Check if NFS client support is enabledIf you have the U-Boot configuration file (.config) or source code, look for CONFIG_CMD_NFS or CONFIG_NFS in the build configuration. In U-Boot, you can also check at the prompt with 'printenv' and look for nfs-related environment variables or run 'help' and see if NFS commands are listed.Affected if CONFIG_CMD_NFS or CONFIG_NFS is defined/enabled in the U-Boot configuration
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Inspect nfs_readlink_reply function sourceIf you have access to the U-Boot source code, navigate to net/nfs.c and locate the nfs_readlink_reply function. Search for the memcpy call within this function and verify if length validation (e.g., checking against NFS_MAXPATHLEN or similar buffer size) is performed before the memcpy.Affected if The memcpy in nfs_readlink_reply lacks proper length validation against the destination buffer size, or the source code version is before the fix (post-2019.07)
A device is affected if it runs U-Boot version 2019.07 or earlier with the NFS client feature enabled, and the nfs_readlink_reply function lacks bounds checking on the memcpy operation.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate U-Boot to a version after 2019.07 that contains the fix, or apply a patch to add proper length validation before the memcpy call in nfs_readlink_reply.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-14195 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-14195 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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