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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2019-5815

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-12-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.1.33 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
Type confusion in xsltNumberFormatGetMultipleLevel prior to libxslt 1.1.33 could allow attackers to potentially exploit heap corruption via crafted XML data.

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

Type confusion in the xsltNumberFormatGetMultipleLevel function in libxslt versions prior to 1.1.33 allows attackers to trigger heap corruption through specially crafted XML data processed by the library.

MitigationUpgrade libxslt to version 1.1.33 or later to patch the type confusion vulnerability. Ensure all applications and services using libxslt are restarted after the update.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 10.0
LibxsltApplication
Affected:< 1.1.33

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. Identify installed libxslt version
    Run 'xsltproc --version' or check via package manager: 'dpkg -l libxslt' (Debian) or 'rpm -q libxslt' (Red Hat)
    Affected if The reported version is lower than 1.1.33
  2. Check for libxslt library files
    Locate libxslt shared libraries with 'find /usr -name "libxslt*" 2>/dev/null' or check /usr/lib/ directory
    Affected if Library files exist but version cannot be determined or is below 1.1.33
  3. Identify processes using libxslt
    Run 'ldd $(which xsltproc)' to see library dependencies, or use 'lsof | grep libxslt' to find running processes linked against libxslt
    Affected if Processes are actively using a vulnerable libxslt version
  4. Determine XSLT processing usage
    Audit logs, application configs, or running services that process XML with XSLT transformations. Check for .xsl/.xslt files and XML processing applications on the system
    Affected if The system processes XML data through XSLT using a vulnerable libxslt version, particularly untrusted or externally-sourced XML documents

A system is affected if libxslt version 1.1.33 or later is not installed AND applications/services actively process XML using XSLT transformations.

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 1.1.33 or later
Fixed in 1.1.33
Interim mitigation

Upgrade libxslt to version 1.1.33 or later to patch the type confusion vulnerability. Ensure all applications and services using libxslt are restarted after the update.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,400
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,840.

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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-2019-5815 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