CVE-2019-8960
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 · uneditedA Denial of Service vulnerability related to command handling has been identified in FlexNet Publisher lmadmin.exe version 11.16.2. The message reading function used in lmadmin.exe can, given a certain message, call itself again and then wait for a further message. With a particular flag set in the original message, but no second message received, the function eventually return an unexpected value which leads to an exception being thrown. The end result can be process termination.
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 · moderate confidenceA denial of service vulnerability exists in FlexNet Publisher's lmadmin.exe version 11.16.2. The message reading function can recursively call itself when processing a specific message type. When a particular flag is set in the original message without a follow-up message being received, the function returns an unexpected value, triggering an exception that terminates the process.
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= 11.16.2CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate the lmadmin.exe processOpen Task Manager or run 'tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq lmadmin.exe"' in Command PromptAffected if lmadmin.exe is running on the system
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Check lmadmin.exe versionRight-click lmadmin.exe in Task Manager > Properties, or use 'wmic process where name="lmadmin.exe" get version'Affected if Version shows 11.16.2 exactly
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Verify the full version stringCheck the File Version field in the lmadmin.exe properties window, or inspect the binary's version info resourceAffected if File version is exactly 11.16.2 (build 274051)
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Confirm lmadmin network listening statusRun 'netstat -an | findstr LISTENING' and look for ports 27000-27009 or 2700-2709 typically used by FlexNet, or use 'netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name=all' to check firewall rules for lmadminAffected if The lmadmin service is listening on network ports and accessible to untrusted networks
The system is affected if lmadmin.exe version 11.16.2 is running and the license manager service is exposed to network traffic, allowing remote attackers to send the triggering message that causes the DoS.
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 the vendor-supplied patch or upgrade to a patched version of FlexNet Publisher. If a patch is unavailable, restrict network access to the lmadmin service and implement process monitoring to detect and restart terminated instances.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-8960 — 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-2019-8960 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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