# CVE-2019-16166: Memory corruption in n/a

> A heap-based buffer over-read in GNU cflow allows attackers to cause denial of service or disclose sensitive memory contents via crafted input.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 9 Sep 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2019-16166, GHSA-5g5w-m23x-cv77, UBUNTU-CVE-2019-16166

## What is CVE-2019-16166?

CVE-2019-16166 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 9 Sep 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

GNU cflow through 1.6 has a heap-based buffer over-read in the nexttoken function in parser.c.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-16166?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Gnu Cflow.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-16166?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2019-16166 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-16166 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2019-16165](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16165/): Use after free in n/a (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2023-2789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2789/): GNU cflow parser.c parse_variable_declaration denial of service (low 3.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-16166 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-16166 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 9 Sep 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-16166 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

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-2019-16166/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16166/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-16166
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-16166
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-16166

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16166/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.