Omero.serverApplication · Openmicroscopy

CVE-2019-9943

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-06-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 5.6.0 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
In ome.services.graphs.GraphTraversal.findObjectDetails in Open Microscopy Environment OMERO.server 5.1.0 through 5.6.0, permissions on OMERO model objects may be circumvented during certain operations such as move and delete, because group permissions are mishandled.

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 confidence

The vulnerability is an authorization bypass in OMERO.server's GraphTraversal.findObjectDetails method where group permissions are mishandled, allowing authenticated users to circumvent permission checks during move and delete operations on OMERO model objects they should not have access to.

MitigationUpgrade OMERO.server to version 5.6.1 or later which contains the fix for proper group permission validation in the GraphTraversal component.

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
Omero.serverApplication
Affected:>= 5.1.0, <= 5.6.0

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
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

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. Check OMERO.server version
    Run 'omero version' or inspect the server installation directory for the version file, typically found in the OMERO.server lib directory or via 'java -jar omero-server.jar --version'
    Affected if The installed version is >= 5.1.0 and <= 5.6.0
  2. Verify GraphTraversal component is present
    Inspect the OMERO.server installation for the graph.jar or graphTraversal classes in the lib directory, typically under /lib/graph/ or bundled within the server jar
    Affected if The GraphTraversal component exists and is loaded by the server (this is typically always true for affected versions)
  3. Confirm multi-group user configuration exists
    Check OMERO.server admin interface or database for users assigned to multiple groups: run 'omero users -l' or query the experimenter_group table for users with multiple group memberships
    Affected if There are authenticated users who belong to more than one group in the system
  4. Check for permission configuration on sensitive groups
    Review group permissions in OMERO admin interface or via 'omero chgrp' commands to identify groups with restrictive permissions on sensitive data
    Affected if There exist groups with limited read/write permissions that should be protected from unauthorized access
  5. Test authorization bypass condition
    As a test user belonging to multiple groups, attempt to move or delete an object owned by a different group where the user lacks explicit delete permissions
    Affected if The operation succeeds when it should fail, indicating the authorization bypass is present

A user is affected if they run OMERO.server version 5.1.0 through 5.6.0 with authenticated users who belong to multiple groups, and the GraphTraversal component handles permissions for move/delete operations on cross-group objects.

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 a release after 5.6.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade OMERO.server to version 5.6.1 or later which contains the fix for proper group permission validation in the GraphTraversal component.

Fix this in Omero.server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,160
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,656.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-9943 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-9943 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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