# CVE-2019-17514: Information disclosure in n/a

> Misleading documentation regarding glob sorting led to non-deterministic behavior in dependent applications, requiring explicit sorting in affected scripts.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 12 Oct 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-pgrc-mvjg-qfr7, UBUNTU-CVE-2019-17514

## What is CVE-2019-17514?

CVE-2019-17514 is a high-severity vulnerability in Python Python, published on 12 Oct 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

library/glob.html in the Python 2 and 3 documentation before 2016 has potentially misleading information about whether sorting occurs, as demonstrated by irreproducible cancer-research results. NOTE: the effects of this documentation cross application domains, and thus it is likely that security-relevant code elsewhere is affected. This issue is not a Python implementation bug, and there are no reports that NMR researchers were specifically relying on library/glob.html. In other words, because the older documentation stated "finds all the pathnames matching a specified pattern according to the rules used by the Unix shell," one might have incorrectly inferred that the sorting that occurs in a Unix shell also occurred for glob.glob. There is a workaround in newer versions of Willoughby nmr-data_compilation-p2.py and nmr-data_compilation-p3.py, which call sort() directly.

Weakness: CWE-682 (Incorrect Calculation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-17514?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Python Python.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-17514?

Apply a workaround.

## Is CVE-2019-17514 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-17514 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Python Python

- [CVE-2008-5031](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-5031/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2014-4650](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-4650/): Path traversal in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-5636](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-5636/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2007-4559](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-4559/): Path traversal in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-17522](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-17522/): Command injection in n/a (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-17514 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-17514 is a high-severity vulnerability in Python Python, published on 12 Oct 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-2019-17514 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Python Python. 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-2019-17514/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-17514/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-17514
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-17514
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-17514

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-17514/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.