CVE-2019-17514: High severity Python Python vulnerability

Published Oct 12, 2019
·
Updated

Last updated 18 August 2025

Other sources

library/glob.html in the Python 2 and 3 documentation before 2016 has potentially misleading information about whether sorting occurs, as demonstrated by irreproducible cancer-research results. NOTE: the effects of this documentation cross application domains, and thus it is likely that security-relevant code elsewhere is affected. This issue is not a Python implementation bug, and there are no reports that NMR researchers were specifically relying on library/glob.html. In other words, because the older documentation stated "finds all the pathnames matching a specified pattern according to the rules used by the Unix shell," one might have incorrectly inferred that the sorting that occurs in a Unix shell also occurred for glob.glob. There is a workaround in newer versions of Willoughby nmr-datacompilation-p2.py and nmr-datacompilation-p3.py, which call sort() directly.

— Launchpad

Affected Software

3 affected components
Python Python=3.6.0
Python Python=3.7.0
Python Python=3.8.0

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Compensating control

    In Willoughby nmr-data_compilation-p2.py and nmr-data_compilation-p3.py, call sort() directly when deterministic pathname ordering is required instead of relying on glob.glob sorting.

Event History

Oct 12, 2019
CVE Published
via Ubuntu·12:00 AM
Data Sourced
via Ubuntu·12:00 AM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityAffected Software
CVE Published
via MITRE·12:07 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·12:07 PM
Description
Data Sourced
via NVD·01:15 PM
DescriptionSeverityWeaknessAffected Software
Data Sourced
via OSV·01:15 PM
DescriptionSeverity

Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is CVE-2019-17514?

CVE-2019-17514 is a vulnerability in the Python 2 and 3 documentation before 2016 that contains potentially misleading information about whether sorting occurs.

2

What is the severity of CVE-2019-17514?

The severity of CVE-2019-17514 is high, with a CVSS score of 7.5.

3

Which software versions are affected by CVE-2019-17514?

CVE-2019-17514 affects Python 2.7.17-1~18.04ubuntu1.1, Python 2.7.18-1~20.04.1, Python 2.7.6-8ubuntu0.6+, Python 2.7.12-1ubuntu0~16.04.12, Python 3.5.2-2ubuntu0~16.04.11, Python 3.6.9-1~18.04ubuntu1.1, Python 3.4.3-1ubuntu1~14.04.7+, Python 3.8.0-3~18.04, and Python 3.8.2-1ubuntu1.2.

4

How can I fix CVE-2019-17514?

To fix CVE-2019-17514, update your Python version to a patched release, such as Python 2.7.17-1~18.04ubuntu1.1, Python 2.7.18-1~20.04.1, Python 2.7.6-8ubuntu0.6+, Python 2.7.12-1ubuntu0~16.04.12, Python 3.5.2-2ubuntu0~16.04.11, Python 3.6.9-1~18.04ubuntu1.1, Python 3.4.3-1ubuntu1~14.04.7+, Python 3.8.0-3~18.04, or Python 3.8.2-1ubuntu1.2, depending on your operating system.

5

Where can I find more information about CVE-2019-17514?

You can find more information about CVE-2019-17514 at the following references: [1] [2] [3].

Contact

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