CVE-2019-20893
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered in Activision Infinity Ward Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 through 2019-12-11. PartyHost_HandleJoinPartyRequest has a buffer overflow vulnerability and can be exploited by using a crafted joinParty packet. This can be utilized to conduct arbitrary code execution on a victim's machine.
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 confidenceA buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the PartyHost_HandleJoinPartyRequest function of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. By sending a specially crafted joinParty packet with oversized data, an attacker can overwrite memory and achieve arbitrary code execution on the victim's machine.
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<= 2019-12-11CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed game versionOpen the game launcher or Steam/Blizzard client, right-click on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, and view properties or the version information section. Alternatively, check the game's executable file properties for version details.Affected if The installed version was released on or before December 11, 2019 (version date 2019-12-11 or earlier).
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Verify party join functionality is enabledIn the game main menu, navigate to Settings or Options and look for Party, Social, or Multiplayer settings. Check if party/join functionality is set to allow incoming connections.Affected if Party join requests are permitted and the game is connected to online servers.
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Inspect network listener configurationUse system tools like netstat or TCPView to check for listening ports associated with the game process (CODMW2.exe). Look for ports that would accept incoming party connections.Affected if The game has open network listeners enabled for party functionality.
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Review game process memory protectionsUse process exploration tools to examine the running CODMW2.exe process and check if standard memory protection mechanisms are in place. This is informational only as the vulnerability exploits a specific function.Affected if The game process is running without advanced exploit mitigation features (note: actual mitigation status is difficult to determine externally).
The environment is likely affected if Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is installed with a version released on or before December 11, 2019 and the party/join functionality is enabled, as the buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the PartyHost_HandleJoinPartyRequest function when processing oversized joinParty packets.
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.
From vendor dataApply vendor security patches immediately. Until patched, consider blocking unsolicited party join requests at the network level or disabling party functionality if possible.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-20893 — 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-2019-20893 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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- 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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