dbcve.org
PillowApplication · Python

CVE-2019-16865

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-10-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.2.0 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
An issue was discovered in Pillow before 6.2.0. When reading specially crafted invalid image files, the library can either allocate very large amounts of memory or take an extremely long period of time to process the image.

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 confidence

A denial-of-service vulnerability in Pillow versions before 6.2.0 allows specially crafted invalid image files to trigger either excessive memory allocation (memory exhaustion) or extremely long processing times (algorithmic complexity issue), causing the application to become unresponsive.

MitigationUpgrade Pillow to version 6.2.0 or later to remediate the vulnerability; additionally, implement input validation and resource limits for image processing operations.

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
PillowApplication
Affected:< 6.2.0
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 30= 31

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 checks

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

  1. Check installed Pillow version
    Run 'pip show pillow' or execute 'python -c "import PIL; print(PIL.__version__)"' to determine the installed Pillow version
    Affected if The installed version is earlier than 6.2.0
  2. Identify Pillow installation method
    Run 'pip list | grep -i pillow' to see if Pillow was installed via pip or is a system package
    Affected if Pillow is installed via system package manager on an affected Fedora system
  3. Check Fedora system version
    Run 'cat /etc/fedora-release' to identify the exact Fedora version
    Affected if The system is Fedora 30 or 31 with Pillow installed
  4. Verify application image processing usage
    Review application code for Pillow image loading functions such as Image.open() that handle external or untrusted image input
    Affected if The application uses Pillow to process user-supplied or network-received image files without version upgrade

The environment is affected if Pillow version is below 6.2.0 and the system or application processes untrusted image files, as this allows specially crafted images to trigger memory exhaustion or excessive processing time.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.2.0 or later
Fixed in 6.2.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Pillow to version 6.2.0 or later to remediate the vulnerability; additionally, implement input validation and resource limits for image processing operations.

Fix this in Pillow Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,328.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-16865 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2019-16865 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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