Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2019-9928
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 · uneditedGStreamer before 1.16.0 has a heap-based buffer overflow in the RTSP connection parser via a crafted response from a server, potentially allowing remote code execution.
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 confidenceGStreamer before 1.16.0 contains a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in its RTSP connection parser. The vulnerability is triggered when parsing a crafted RTSP response from a malicious server, potentially allowing remote code execution on affected systems.
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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
= 16.04= 18.04= 18.10< 1.16.0CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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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Verify GStreamer is installedRun `dpkg -l | grep gstreamer` (Debian/Ubuntu) or `rpm -qa | grep gstreamer` (Red Hat) to list installed GStreamer packagesAffected if No GStreamer packages are found - the system is not affected because GStreamer is not installed
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Check GStreamer core versionRun `gst-inspect-1.0 --version` or `gst-launch-1.0 --version` to display the installed GStreamer versionAffected if The version displayed is less than 1.16.0 (for example, 1.14.x, 1.12.x, etc.)
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Identify RTSP-related GStreamer packagesRun `dpkg -l | grep -i rtsp` or check for packages containing 'rtsp' in the name such as gstreamer1.0-plugins-good, gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad, or gstreamer1.0-rtspAffected if RTSP-related GStreamer packages are installed - the vulnerability could be triggered when processing RTSP responses
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Check for active processes using GStreamer RTSPRun `ps aux | grep -i gstreamer` or `netstat -anp | grep rtsp` / `ss -anp | grep rtsp` to detect any running applications handling RTSP streamsAffected if Any process is actively connecting to or parsing RTSP streams from network sources
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Review application logs for RTSP connectionsExamine application and system logs (in /var/log/) for entries containing 'rtsp://' URLs or RTSP connection attemptsAffected if Logs show RTSP connections to untrusted or external servers - the system could be vulnerable when processing responses from those servers
A system is affected if GStreamer version is below 1.16.0 AND RTSP functionality (packages or active connections) is in use, allowing a malicious RTSP server to trigger the heap overflow during response parsing.
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 data1.16.0
Upgrade GStreamer to version 1.16.0 or later. If immediate upgrading is not feasible, restrict RTSP connections to trusted servers only and implement network-level filtering.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,992.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-9928 — 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-2019-9928 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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