Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2019-9215
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 · uneditedIn Live555 before 2019.02.27, malformed headers lead to invalid memory access in the parseAuthorizationHeader function.
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 confidenceLive555 streaming media library before version 2019.02.27 contains a memory corruption vulnerability in the parseAuthorizationHeader function. Malformed Authorization headers trigger invalid memory access, which combined with the critical CVSS score of 9.8 and network-exploitable nature could potentially allow remote code execution.
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
= 8.0= 9.0< 2019.02.27= 15.0= 15.0= 15.1= 15.2CVSS 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
- 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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Identify Live555 installationSearch for Live555 binaries or libraries on the system. Common locations include /usr/lib/liblive555.so, /usr/local/lib/live555, or check package manager (dpkg -l | grep live555, rpm -qa | grep live555). Look for binaries like live555MediaServer, testRTSPClient, or any custom application linking against liblive555.Affected if Live555 libraries or executables are found on the system
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Determine Live555 versionIf using a package manager, run: dpkg -p live555 (Debian) or rpm -qi live555 (OpenSUSE). For compiled binaries, check the library file modification date or strings /usr/lib/liblive555.so | grep -i version. Look for dates or version strings like 2019.02.27.Affected if Installed version is earlier than 2019.02.27 or the version cannot be determined (treat as vulnerable)
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Verify network service exposureIdentify if any service using Live555 is exposed to network traffic. Check running processes: ps aux | grep live555. Review firewall rules and listening ports (netstat -tlnp | grep -E '554|8554|7070') that accept RTSP/RTP connections where Authorization headers may be processed.Affected if A Live555-based service is listening on a network port and accepts incoming connections that could contain Authorization headers
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Inspect Authorization header handlingReview configuration files for any RTSP or streaming server using Live555. Check for authentication settings in config files or command-line arguments that enable Basic/Digest authentication. Look for flags like --authentication or similar in process listings.Affected if Authentication is enabled and the service processes Authorization headers from network clients
The system is affected if Live555 version is earlier than 2019.02.27 AND a network service using Live555 is exposed and processes Authorization headers from clients.
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 · scoped2019.02.27
Update Live555 to version 2019.02.27 or later to obtain the vendor patch. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement input validation at network boundaries to reject malformed Authorization headers before they reach the Live555 library.
Live555 version 2019.02.27 or later
- 1. Identify the Live555 library or application installation on your system
- 2. For Debian systems (8.0, 9.0): Run 'apt-get update && apt-get upgrade' to obtain the fixed Live555 packages from Debian repositories
- 3. For openSUSE Leap (15.0, 15.1, 15.0): Run 'zypper update' to obtain the fixed Live555 packages
- 4. For openSUSE Backports SLE 15.0: Run 'zypper update' to obtain the fixed packages from the backports repository
- 5. Verify the installed Live555 version is 2019.02.27 or later using 'dpkg -l liblivemediaserver-dev' (Debian) or 'rpm -qi livemediaserver' (openSUSE)
- 6. Restart any services using Live555 (e.g., media streaming applications) to load the fixed version
- 7. Test media streaming functionality to confirm the update does not break existing functionality
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,616.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-9215 — 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-2019-9215 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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