ClickhouseApplication

CVE-2019-16535

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-12-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 19.14 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
In all versions of ClickHouse before 19.14, an OOB read, OOB write and integer underflow in decompression algorithms can be used to achieve RCE or DoS via native protocol.

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 confidence

ClickHouse versions before 19.14 contain multiple memory safety vulnerabilities (OOB read, OOB write, integer underflow) in decompression algorithms used by the native protocol, allowing remote attackers to achieve code execution or cause denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade ClickHouse to version 19.14 or later. If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict network access to the native protocol port (9000 by default) using firewall rules or network segmentation.

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
ClickhouseApplication
Affected:< 19.14

CVSS 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:3.1/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed ClickHouse version
    Run 'clickhouse-server --version' or query the system table: SELECT version()
    Affected if Version number is less than 19.14 (e.g., 19.13.x, 19.12.x, etc.)
  2. Verify native protocol is enabled
    Inspect ClickHouse config.xml for <listen_host> settings and check if the native protocol port (9000) is bound
    Affected if Native protocol is listening on an accessible network interface (0.0.0.0 or externally reachable IP)
  3. Confirm native protocol port accessibility
    Run 'netstat -tlnp | grep 9000' or 'ss -tlnp | grep 9000' to verify port 9000 is open and listening
    Affected if Port 9000 is in LISTEN state and accessible from untrusted networks
  4. Check for unencrypted native protocol exposure
    Review firewall rules and network configuration to determine if port 9000 is exposed to the internet or untrusted networks
    Affected if Native protocol port 9000 is reachable without firewall restrictions from external hosts

A user is affected if ClickHouse version is below 19.14 AND the native protocol (port 9000) is accessible to remote attackers.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 19.14 or later
Fixed in 19.14
Interim mitigation

Upgrade ClickHouse to version 19.14 or later. If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict network access to the native protocol port (9000 by default) using firewall rules or network segmentation.

Recommended fix High confidence

19.14

  1. 1. Backup your ClickHouse data and configuration files before upgrading.
  2. 2. Stop the ClickHouse server.
  3. 3. Upgrade ClickHouse to version 19.14 or later.
  4. 4. Verify the installation and configuration integrity.
  5. 5. Restart the ClickHouse server.
  6. 6. Test that queries and the native protocol function correctly.
Caveat Review the changelog between your current version and 19.14 for any breaking changes in query syntax, configuration settings, or native protocol behavior.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Clickhouse Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,224.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-16535 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-16535 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data