# CVE-2019-9872: Hardcoded credentials in n/a

> Attackers can steal cloud server credentials if users sync IDE settings to public repositories, exposing sensitive authentication data.

- **Severity:** High 8.1 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 Jul 2019
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-r65c-wpm3-f7g2

## What is CVE-2019-9872?

CVE-2019-9872 is a high-severity vulnerability in Jetbrains Intellij Idea, published on 3 Jul 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In several versions of JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate, creating run configurations for cloud application servers leads to saving a cleartext unencrypted record of the server credentials in the IDE configuration files. If the Settings Repository plugin was then used and configured to synchronize IDE settings using a public repository, these credentials were published to this repository. The issue has been fixed in the following versions: 2019.1, 2018.3.5, 2018.2.8, and 2018.1.8.

Weakness: CWE-522 (Insufficiently Protected Credentials), CWE-312 (Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-9872?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Jetbrains Intellij Idea.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-9872?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-9872 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-9872 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-9872 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Jetbrains Intellij Idea

- [CVE-2026-64812](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64812/): Missing authorization in IntelliJ IDEA (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2026-64813](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64813/): Missing authorization in IntelliJ IDEA (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2020-11690](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11690/): Server-side request forgery in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-10104](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-10104/): Misconfiguration in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-9186](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-9186/): Misconfiguration in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-9872 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-9872 is a high-severity vulnerability in Jetbrains Intellij Idea, published on 3 Jul 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-2019-9872 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Jetbrains Intellij Idea. 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-2019-9872/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-9872/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-9872
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-9872
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-9872

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-9872/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.