# CVE-2019-20485: Denial of service in n/a > Attackers can cause denial of service by blocking the libvirt API through improper handling of monitor jobs during guest agent queries. - **Severity:** Medium 5.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`) - **Exploited in the wild:** Not known - **Login needed:** Any signed-in user - **Attackable:** Local or same network only - **Victim action needed:** Not needed - **Fix available:** Yes - **Published:** 19 Mar 2020 - **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024 - **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2019-20485, DEBIAN-CVE-2019-20485, GHSA-9283-64xm-984q, MGASA-2020-0283, RHBA-2020:2017 ## What is CVE-2019-20485? CVE-2019-20485 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 19 Mar 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim. ### Official description qemu/qemu_driver.c in libvirt before 6.0.0 mishandles the holding of a monitor job during a query to a guest agent, which allows attackers to cause a denial of service (API blockage). Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-20485? It affects 3 products. | Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | `SLOF` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:20191022-3.git899d9883.module+el8.2.0+5449+efc036dd | | `hivex` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.3.18-20.module+el8.2.0+5588+63a201c3 | | `hivex-debuginfo` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.3.18-20.module+el8.2.0+5588+63a201c3 | | `hivex-debugsource` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.3.18-20.module+el8.2.0+5588+63a201c3 | | `hivex-devel` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.3.18-20.module+el8.2.0+5588+63a201c3 | | `libguestfs` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-bash-completion` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-benchmarking` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-benchmarking-debuginfo` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-debuginfo` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-debugsource` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-devel` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-gfs2` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-gobject` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-gobject-debuginfo` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-gobject-devel` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-inspect-icons` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-java` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-java-debuginfo` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-java-devel` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-javadoc` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-man-pages-ja` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-man-pages-uk` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-rescue` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-rsync` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-tools` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-tools-c` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-tools-c-debuginfo` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libguestfs-winsupport` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:8.2-1.module+el8.2.0+5590+82cd80df | | `libguestfs-xfs` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 1:1.40.2-22.module+el8.2.0+6029+618ef2ec | | `libiscsi` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.18.0-8.module+el8.2.0+4793+b09dd2fb | | `libiscsi-debuginfo` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.18.0-8.module+el8.2.0+4793+b09dd2fb | | `libiscsi-debugsource` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.18.0-8.module+el8.2.0+4793+b09dd2fb | | `libiscsi-devel` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.18.0-8.module+el8.2.0+4793+b09dd2fb | | `libiscsi-utils` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.18.0-8.module+el8.2.0+4793+b09dd2fb | | `libiscsi-utils-debuginfo` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.18.0-8.module+el8.2.0+4793+b09dd2fb | | `libnbd` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.2.2-1.module+el8.2.0+5644+32ac38d4 | | `libnbd-debuginfo` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.2.2-1.module+el8.2.0+5644+32ac38d4 | | `libnbd-debugsource` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.2.2-1.module+el8.2.0+5644+32ac38d4 | | `libnbd-devel` | Red Hat:advanced_virtualization:8.2::el8 | All versions | 0:1.2.2-1.module+el8.2.0+5644+32ac38d4 | Products: Debian Debian Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Redhat Libvirt. ## How do I fix CVE-2019-20485? Upgrade to a fixed version. ## Is CVE-2019-20485 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-20485 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux - [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2019-20485 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2019-20485 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 19 Mar 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-20485 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: Debian Debian 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-2019-20485/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20485/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-20485 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-20485 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-20485 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20485/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.