CVE-2019-15547
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 the ncurses crate through 5.99.0 for Rust. There are format string issues in printw functions because C format arguments are mishandled.
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 · moderate confidenceThe ncurses Rust crate (versions through 5.99.0) contains format string vulnerabilities in printw functions due to improper handling of C format arguments. This mishandling allows attackers to potentially crash applications or execute arbitrary code by supplying specially crafted format string specifiers.
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<= 5.99.0CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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 ncurses crate usageSearch your project dependencies (Cargo.toml, Cargo.lock) for the 'ncurses' crate entry and note its version numberAffected if The ncurses crate version is 5.99.0 or any earlier version (versions through 5.99.0 are affected)
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Confirm printw function usageSearch your source code files for calls to printw, wprintw, mvprintw, mvwprintw, or similar curses print functions from the ncurses crateAffected if Any of these printw functions are being called in your codebase
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Inspect printw format string argumentsExamine each printw call and identify the first argument (the format string). Check whether it is a static string literal or a variable that could contain user inputAffected if Any printw call receives a variable as its first argument instead of a static format string literal
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Trace user input to printwFor any printw calls where the format string is a variable, perform data flow analysis to determine whether that variable can be influenced by external input (user input, file contents, network data, environment variables)Affected if User-controlled or external data can reach the format string parameter of a printw call without sanitization
You are affected if your project uses the ncurses Rust crate version 5.99.0 or earlier AND uses printw functions with user-controlled input as the format string argument.
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 to a patched version of the ncurses crate when available; alternatively, audit all printw function calls to ensure user-controlled input is never passed directly as format strings.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-15547 — 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-2019-15547 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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