Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical
CVE-2019-15133
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 · uneditedIn GIFLIB before 2019-02-16, a malformed GIF file triggers a divide-by-zero exception in the decoder function DGifSlurp in dgif_lib.c if the height field of the ImageSize data structure is equal to zero.
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 divide-by-zero vulnerability exists in GIFLIB's DGifSlurp function (dgif_lib.c) when processing malformed GIF files where the height field of the ImageSize structure equals zero, causing a crash and potential denial of service.
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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
= 16.04= 18.04= 19.04
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 10.0< 5.1.7CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Check installed giflib package version on Ubuntu/DebianRun 'dpkg -l | grep -i libgif' or 'apt-cache policy libgif7' to list the installed versionAffected if The installed version is lower than 5.1.7 or the package is not found (meaning giflib may be built from source)
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Check giflib version from library fileIf libgif.so exists, run 'objdump -p /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgif.so 2>/dev/null | grep Version' or check /usr/include/gif_lib.h for GIFLIB_VERSION_STRAffected if The library version shown is earlier than 5.1.7
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Identify applications or tools using giflibRun 'ldconfig -p | grep -i gif' to list giflib-linked programs, or check dependencies of specific image processing tools with 'ldd <binary>'Affected if Any application that links to giflib and processes user-supplied GIF files is potentially affected
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Verify GIF processing occurs in your environmentReview which services, web applications, or tools accept GIF input (e.g., image converters, web servers, content management systems) and confirm they use giflibAffected if GIF files are processed by any giflib-based application using DGifSlurp
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Check Ubuntu version for affected releasesRun 'lsb_release -a' or check /etc/os-release to confirm Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, or 19.04 is installedAffected if The system runs Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, or 19.04 with giflib present
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Check Debian version for affected releaseRun 'cat /etc/debian_version' to confirm version 10.0Affected if The system runs Debian 10.0 with giflib present
You are affected if giflib version lower than 5.1.7 is installed AND any application or service on your system uses it to process GIF files via the DGifSlurp function.
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 data5.1.7
Upgrade GIFLIB to version 2019-02-16 or later which includes validation for zero-height images. Alternatively, validate and sanitize GIF files before processing.
Fix this in Ubuntu Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-15133 — 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-2019-15133 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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