Streaming EngineApplication · Wowza

CVE-2019-19455

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-08-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.8.5 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Wowza Streaming Engine before 4.8.5 has Insecure Permissions which may allow a local attacker to escalate privileges in / usr / local / WowzaStreamingEngine / manager / bin / in the Linux version of the server by writing arbitrary commands in any file and execute them as root. This issue was resolved in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.5.

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

Wowza Streaming Engine versions prior to 4.8.5 have insecure file permissions in the /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/manager/bin/ directory on Linux installations. A local attacker with any level of access can write arbitrary commands to files in this directory and execute them with root privileges, achieving full local privilege escalation.

MitigationUpgrade to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.5 or later. Additionally, review and restrict file permissions on the manager/bin directory to follow least-privilege principles.

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
Streaming EngineApplication
Affected:< 4.8.5

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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. Confirm Wowza Streaming Engine installation
    Check if /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/ directory exists on the system using 'ls -ld /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/'
    Affected if The /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine directory exists on a Linux system
  2. Determine installed version
    Look for version information in the installation - check the startup scripts, version files, or run the engine and query its version
    Affected if The installed version is earlier than 4.8.5 (e.g., 4.7.0, 4.8.0, 4.8.1, etc.)
  3. Inspect permissions on manager/bin directory
    Run 'ls -la /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/manager/bin/' to view ownership and permissions on files in this directory
    Affected if The directory or its contents are writable by non-root users (permission bits show 'w' for others or group, or ownership is not root)
  4. Check if Wowza service runs as root
    Examine the service startup configuration or process owner - check the init script or systemd service file to see what user the process runs as
    Affected if The Wowza service runs with root privileges

A system is affected if Wowza Streaming Engine version is prior to 4.8.5 AND the /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/manager/bin/ directory is writable by non-root users AND the service runs as root, allowing local privilege escalation.

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 4.8.5 or later
Fixed in 4.8.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.5 or later. Additionally, review and restrict file permissions on the manager/bin directory to follow least-privilege principles.

Fix this in Streaming Engine Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-19455 — 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-2019-19455 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