Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2020-19716
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 buffer overflow vulnerability in the Databuf function in types.cpp of Exiv2 v0.27.1 leads to a denial of service (DOS).
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 confidenceBuffer overflow vulnerability in the Databuf function in types.cpp of Exiv2 v0.27.1 allows specially crafted input to overflow a buffer, leading to denial of service.
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
= 10.0= 0.27.1CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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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Verify Exiv2 is installedRun 'which exiv2' or check your package manager (e.g., 'dpkg -l | grep exiv2' on Debian, 'rpm -qa | grep exiv2' on RHEL)Affected if Exiv2 is not installed on the system, the vulnerability does not apply
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Confirm Exiv2 versionRun 'exiv2 --version' and check if the output shows version 0.27.1 exactly, or compare against the affected version rangeAffected if The installed version is exactly 0.27.1 (exact match per CVE description), they are affected; versions before or after may not be
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Identify binaries/libraries using the vulnerable types.cppCheck for any applications or scripts that invoke exiv2 for image metadata processing, or look for the types.cpp file in any compiled Exiv2 installations at /path/to/exiv2/types.cppAffected if The vulnerable Databuf function in types.cpp is present in the installed Exiv2, and that code path could be reached during image processing
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Audit image processing workflowsReview logs or audit trails for exiv2 commands being executed against untrusted image files, or check if automated tools process user-uploaded images using exiv2Affected if Exiv2 is used to process image files in any workflow, the vulnerable Databuf function could be triggered by specially crafted input
If Exiv2 version 0.27.1 is installed AND it processes image files (especially from untrusted sources), the system is likely affected by this buffer overflow in the Databuf function.
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 dataUpdate to a patched version of Exiv2 if available, or implement proper bounds checking in the Databuf function to prevent buffer overflows.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-19716 — 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-2020-19716 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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