# CVE-2019-16168: Denial of service in n/a

> An attacker can cause a denial of service in applications using SQLite by triggering a division by zero error in the query planner via a malformed stat field.

- **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:** 14 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2019-16168, AZL-38191, DEBIAN-CVE-2019-16168, GHSA-m2vp-56p6-9q2h, SUSE-SU-2019:2533-1, SUSE-SU-2019:2536-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2019-16168, openSUSE-SU-2019:2298-1, openSUSE-SU-2019:2300-1

## What is CVE-2019-16168?

CVE-2019-16168 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, 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

In SQLite through 3.29.0, whereLoopAddBtreeIndex in sqlite3.c can crash a browser or other application because of missing validation of a sqlite_stat1 sz field, aka a "severe division by zero in the query planner."

Weakness: CWE-369 (Divide By Zero)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-16168?

It affects 20 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `sqlite3` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP4 | All versions | 3.8.10.2-9.12.1 |
| `sqlite3` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 | All versions | 3.28.0-3.9.2 |
| `sqlite3` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP1 | All versions | 3.28.0-3.9.2 |
| `sqlite3` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4 | All versions | 3.8.10.2-9.12.1 |
| `sqlite3` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP4 | All versions | 3.8.10.2-9.12.1 |
| `sqlite3` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP4 | All versions | 3.8.10.2-9.12.1 |
| `sqlite3` | openSUSE:Leap 15.0 | All versions | 3.28.0-lp150.2.9.1 |
| `sqlite3` | openSUSE:Leap 15.1 | All versions | 3.28.0-lp151.2.3.1 |

Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Mcafee Policy Auditor, Netapp Active Iq Unified Manager, Netapp E-Series Santricity Os Controller, Netapp Oncommand Insight, Netapp Oncommand Workflow Automation, Netapp Ontap Select Deploy Administration Utility, Netapp Santricity Unified Manager, Netapp Steelstore Cloud Integrated Storage, Oracle Communications Design Studio, Oracle Jdk, Oracle Jre, Oracle Mysql, Oracle Outside in Technology, Oracle Solaris, Oracle Zfs Storage Appliance, Sqlite Sqlite, Tenable Nessus Agent.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-16168?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2019-16168 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-16168 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-16168 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-16168 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, 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-2019-16168 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. 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-2019-16168/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16168/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-16168
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-16168
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-16168

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16168/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.