# CVE-2019-14993: Istio ReDoS Vulnerability

> Attackers can cause denial of service in Istio by sending long URIs that trigger inefficient regular expression processing in specific APIs.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 13 Aug 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-qcvw-82hh-gq38, MINI-65ph-46pc-xhcc, MINI-6x2g-rv7p-6fqp

## What is CVE-2019-14993?

CVE-2019-14993 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 13 Aug 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Istio before 1.1.13 and 1.2.x before 1.2.4 mishandles regular expressions for long URIs, leading to a denial of service during use of the JWT, VirtualService, HTTPAPISpecBinding, or QuotaSpecBinding API.

Weakness: CWE-185 (Incorrect Regular Expression)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-14993?

4 open source packages ship an affected version, including istio.io/istio. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `istio.io/istio` | Go | All versions | 1.1.13 |
| `istio.io/istio` | Go | All versions | 1.1.13 |
| `istio.io/istio` | Go | From 1.2.0 | 1.2.4 |
| `istio.io/istio` | Go | From 1.2.0 | 1.2.4 |

Products: Istio Istio.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-14993?

Upgrade istio.io/istio to a fixed version for your release line: 1.1.13 or 1.2.4.

## Is CVE-2019-14993 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-14993 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2021-31921](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-31921/): Missing authorization in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-34824](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-34824/): Information disclosure in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-31837](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-31837/): Istio JWKS resolver to prevent private key material from being exposed when JWKS fetch fails. (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2021-39155](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39155/): Authorization Policy Bypass Due to Case Insensitive Host Comparison (high 8.3)
- [CVE-2021-39156](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39156/): Fragments in Path May Lead to Authorization Policy Bypass (high 8.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-14993 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-14993 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 13 Aug 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-14993 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- istio.io/istio (Go): affected all versions; fixed in 1.1.13
- istio.io/istio (Go): affected all versions; fixed in 1.1.13
- istio.io/istio (Go): affected from 1.2.0; fixed in 1.2.4
- istio.io/istio (Go): affected from 1.2.0; fixed in 1.2.4

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-14993/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-14993/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-14993
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-14993
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-14993

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-14993/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.