# CVE-2019-5739: Denial of service in Node.js

> Attackers can exhaust server resources by keeping HTTP/HTTPS connections open, causing denial of service in older Node.js versions.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/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:** 28 Mar 2019
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2019-5739, GHSA-wr35-fh22-q84x, UBUNTU-CVE-2019-5739

## What is CVE-2019-5739?

CVE-2019-5739 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Nodejs Node.js, published on 28 Mar 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Keep-alive HTTP and HTTPS connections can remain open and inactive for up to 2 minutes in Node.js 6.16.0 and earlier. Node.js 8.0.0 introduced a dedicated server.keepAliveTimeout which defaults to 5 seconds. The behavior in Node.js 6.16.0 and earlier is a potential Denial of Service (DoS) attack vector. Node.js 6.17.0 introduces server.keepAliveTimeout and the 5-second default.

Weakness: CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling), CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-5739?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Nodejs Node.js, Opensuse Leap.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-5739?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2019-5739 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-5739 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Nodejs Node.js

- [CVE-2023-32002](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-32002/): Security feature bypass in Node (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-6303](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6303/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-15896](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-15896/): Security feature bypass in Node.js (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2018-7160](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-7160/): Server-side request forgery in Node.js (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2018-12120](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12120/): Misconfiguration in Node.js (high 8.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-5739 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-5739 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Nodejs Node.js, published on 28 Mar 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-2019-5739 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Nodejs Node.js. 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-2019-5739/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5739/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-5739
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-5739
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-5739

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5739/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.