CVE-2019-20433
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 · uneditedlibaspell.a in GNU Aspell before 0.60.8 has a buffer over-read for a string ending with a single '\0' byte, if the encoding is set to ucs-2 or ucs-4 outside of the application, as demonstrated by the ASPELL_CONF environment variable.
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 confidenceGNU Aspell versions before 0.60.8 contain a buffer over-read vulnerability in libaspell.a when processing strings ending with a single null byte ('\0') under ucs-2 or ucs-4 encodings. The vulnerability is triggered via the ASPELL_CONF environment variable, allowing an attacker to cause the library to read beyond allocated buffer boundaries.
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< 0.60.8CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Aspell versionRun 'aspell --version' to determine the version number. Compare it to the affected range (versions before 0.60.8).Affected if The version number is less than 0.60.8
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Identify if libaspell.a (static library) is in useSearch for libaspell.a on the system using 'find / -name libaspell.a 2>/dev/null' or check the application's linking configuration for references to libaspell.a.Affected if libaspell.a exists on the system and is linked to any application
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Check for ASPELL_CONF environment variable usageInspect processes or applications that set or use the ASPELL_CONF environment variable by running 'env | grep -i aspell' or reviewing application configurations.Affected if ASPELL_CONF is set or can be controlled by untrusted input
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Verify encoding configuration for AspellCheck if Aspell dictionaries or configurations use ucs-2 or ucs-4 encodings by examining dictionary metadata or Aspell config files.Affected if ucs-2 or ucs-4 encoding is configured for use with Aspell
You are affected if you have Aspell version below 0.60.8, use the static library libaspell.a, and process strings with ucs-2 or ucs-4 encoding via ASPELL_CONF.
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.
dbcve · scoped0.60.8
Upgrade to GNU Aspell version 0.60.8 or later. Applications statically linked with libaspell.a must be rebuilt with the patched library version.
0.60.8
- Check the current installed version of Aspell using: aspell --version or rpm -q aspell / dpkg -l aspell
- Upgrade Aspell to version 0.60.8 or later. On Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install aspell
- On RHEL/CentOS: sudo yum update aspell
- On Fedora: sudo dnf update aspell
- Alternatively, compile from source: download aspell-0.60.8.tar.gz from ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/aspell/, extract, and run ./configure && make && make install
- Verify the installed version is 0.60.8 or higher using: aspell --version
- If using ASPELL_CONF environment variable, ensure any encoding settings (ucs-2, ucs-4) are reviewed for proper configuration
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-20433 — 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-2019-20433 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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