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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2019-16746

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-09-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.16.79 / 4.4.197 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
An issue was discovered in net/wireless/nl80211.c in the Linux kernel through 5.2.17. It does not check the length of variable elements in a beacon head, leading to a buffer overflow.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-120

A fixed-size buffer is filled without checking the length of the incoming data, so it overflows into neighbouring memory. This is the classic overflow attackers use to overwrite return addresses and hijack execution. The fix is strict length checks and safe, bounded string and memory functions.

General guidance for the classic buffer overflow class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 2.6.25, < 3.16.79>= 3.17, < 4.4.197>= 4.5, < 4.9.197>= 4.10, < 4.14.149>= 4.15, < 4.19.79>= 4.20, < 5.3.6
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 16.04= 18.04= 19.04= 19.10
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 30
LeapOperating system
Affected:= 15.1

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

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 3.16.79 / 4.4.197 / 4.9.197 or later
Fixed in 3.16.794.4.1974.9.197
Vendor patch marc.info →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Linux kernel >= 4.14.149 (or >= 4.9.197, >= 4.4.197, or >= 3.16.79 depending on your version branch). For kernel 5.x systems, upgrade to 5.3 or later.

  1. Identify the currently running kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. For Debian/Ubuntu: Run 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade' to install the latest kernel packages, or manually install linux-image-<version> packages from security repositories
  3. For Fedora: Run 'sudo dnf update kernel' to install the latest kernel
  4. For openSUSE Leap: Run 'sudo zypper update kernel' to install the latest kernel
  5. After kernel update, reboot the system: 'sudo reboot'
  6. Verify the new kernel version is running with 'uname -r' and confirm the version is >= 4.14.149 (or >= 4.9.197, >= 4.4.197, or >= 3.16.79 depending on your major version branch)
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require reboot and could introduce compatibility issues with proprietary kernel modules or older drivers. Ensure critical applications are compatible with the new kernel version before production deployment.

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $3,550. Get the upgrade done

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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-2019-16746 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
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