# CVE-2019-1787: Clam AntiVirus PDF Denial of Service Vulnerability

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service in ClamAV by sending crafted PDF files that trigger a heap buffer out-of-bounds read and crash.

- **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:** 8 Apr 2019
- **Updated:** 19 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2019-1787, CLEANSTART-2026-MK79765, DEBIAN-CVE-2019-1787, GHSA-8pw7-c9xp-v252, UBUNTU-CVE-2019-1787

## What is CVE-2019-1787?

CVE-2019-1787 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Clamav Clamav, published on 8 Apr 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the Portable Document Format (PDF) scanning functionality of Clam AntiVirus (ClamAV) Software versions 0.101.1 and prior could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to a lack of proper data handling mechanisms within the device buffer while indexing remaining file data on an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted PDF files to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a heap buffer out-of-bounds read condition, resulting in a crash that could result in a denial of service condition on an affected device.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read), CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-1787?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Clamav Clamav, Debian Debian Linux, Opensuse Leap.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-1787?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2019-1787 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-1787 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Clamav Clamav

- [CVE-2010-0098](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-0098/): Security feature bypass in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-1372](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1372/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-3914](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3914/): Denial of service in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-0728](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-0728/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2006-1615](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-1615/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-1787 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-1787 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Clamav Clamav, published on 8 Apr 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-2019-1787 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Clamav Clamav. 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-2019-1787/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1787/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-1787
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-1787
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-1787

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1787/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.