CVE-2019-11939

Golang Facebook Thrift servers vulnerable to denial of service

Golang Facebook Thrift servers would not error upon receiving messages declaring containers of sizes larger than the payload. As a result, malicious clients could send short messages which would result in a large memory allocation, potentially leading to denial of service. This issue affects Facebook Thrift prior to v2020.03.16.00.

Specific Go Packages Affected

github.com/facebook/fbthrift/thrift/lib/go/thrift

The application allocates resources such as memory, threads, or file descriptors based on untrusted input without enforcing a cap. Typical impact: resource exhaustion leading to denial of service.

CVE-2019-11939 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (0.31.1-0.20200311080807-483ed864d69f); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

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1. What is CVE-2019-11939? CVE-2019-11939 is a high-severity allocation of resources without limits or throttling vulnerability in github.com/facebook/fbthrift (go), affecting versions < 0.31.1-0.20200311080807-483ed864d69f. It is fixed in 0.31.1-0.20200311080807-483ed864d69f. The application allocates resources such as memory, threads, or file descriptors based on untrusted input without enforcing a cap.
2. How severe is CVE-2019-11939? CVE-2019-11939 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which versions of github.com/facebook/fbthrift are affected by CVE-2019-11939? github.com/facebook/fbthrift (go) versions < 0.31.1-0.20200311080807-483ed864d69f is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2019-11939? Yes. CVE-2019-11939 is fixed in 0.31.1-0.20200311080807-483ed864d69f. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2019-11939 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2019-11939 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2019-11939 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix CVE-2019-11939? Upgrade github.com/facebook/fbthrift to 0.31.1-0.20200311080807-483ed864d69f or later.

Other vulnerabilities in github.com/facebook/fbthrift