CVE-2019-20838 Memory corruption in n/a
A buffer over-read in the PCRE library's JIT compiler can cause crashes or leak memory when processing specific regex patterns.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2019-20838?
CVE-2019-20838 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Apple Macos, published on 15 Jun 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
libpcre in PCRE before 8.43 allows a subject buffer over-read in JIT when UTF is disabled, and \X or \R has more than one fixed quantifier, a related issue to CVE-2019-20454.
Weakness: CWE-125
Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-20838?
It affects 3 products.
Products include Apple Macos, Pcre Pcre, Splunk Universal Forwarder.
How do I fix CVE-2019-20838?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2019-20838 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-20838 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Apple Macos
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2019-20838, GHSA-689f-qv4w-xgqf, JLSEC-2026-176, UBUNTU-CVE-2019-20838.