# CVE-2019-19240: Information disclosure in n/a

> An attacker can trigger an uninitialized buffer leak in GoAhead web server by sending a large Host header in a redirected request, potentially exposing sensitive memory data.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 22 Nov 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xrwv-jchf-q5j2

## What is CVE-2019-19240?

CVE-2019-19240 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 22 Nov 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Embedthis GoAhead before 5.0.1 mishandles redirected HTTP requests with a large Host header. The GoAhead WebsRedirect uses a static host buffer that has a limited length and can overflow. This can cause a copy of the Host header to fail, leaving that buffer uninitialized, which may leak uninitialized data in a response.

Weakness: CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource), CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-19240?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Embedthis Goahead.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-19240?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-19240 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-19240 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-19240 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2017-17562](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-17562/): Embedthis GoAhead Remote Code Execution (high 8.1, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-41615](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-41615/): Weak cryptography in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-43298](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-43298/): Security feature bypass in goahead (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-42342](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42342/): File upload in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-5096](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5096/): Use after free in EmbedThis (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-19240 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-19240 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 22 Nov 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-2019-19240 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-2019-19240/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-19240/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-19240
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-19240
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-19240

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-19240/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.