CVE-2019-10196 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-665 vulnerability in http-proxy-agent. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2019-10196 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Resource Exhaustion Denial of Service in http-proxy-agent
Real-World Exposure
http-proxy-agentReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects npm packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
A flaw was found in http-proxy-agent, prior to version 2.1.0. It was discovered http-proxy-agent passes an auth option to the Buffer constructor without proper sanitization. This could result in a Denial of Service through the usage of all available CPU resources and data exposure through an uninitialized memory leak in setups where an attacker could submit typed input to the auth parameter.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | http-proxy-agent | all versions | 2.1.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for http-proxy-agent. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update http-proxy-agent to 2.1.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2019-10196 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2019-10196 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2019-10196. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2019-10196 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2019-10196 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.