CVE-2019-14859 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.1) CWE-347 vulnerability in ecdsa. 2 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for ecdsa — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature in Pure-Python ECDSA
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
ecdsaReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
A flaw was found in all python-ecdsa versions before 0.13.3, where it did not correctly verify whether signatures used DER encoding. Without this verification, a malformed signature could be accepted, making the signature malleable. Without proper verification, an attacker could use a malleable signature to create false transactions.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | ecdsa | all versions | 0.13.3pip install --upgrade 'ecdsa==0.13.3' |
Affected Products
python-ecdsapython-ecdsa_projectceph storageredhatopenstackredhatvirtualizationredhatResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ecdsa, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update ecdsa to 0.13.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2019-14859 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.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Although Red Hat OpenStack Platform ships the flawed code, RHOSP does not actually use python-ecdsa's functionality. As such, Red Hat OpenStack Platform will not be providing a fix for python-ecdsa at this time. Red Hat CloudForms 5.9, 5.10 and 5.11 is not affected as these versions no longer ship the python-ecdsa…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Satellite 6.10 for RHEL 7 | python-ecdsa-0:0.13.3-2.el7pc | RHSA-2021:4702 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2019-14859 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.