How severe is CVE-2019-14993?

CVE-2019-14993 has a CVSS score of 7.5/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2019-14993?

CVE-2019-14993 affects the following packages: istio.io/istio (Go), istio.io/istio (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix CVE-2019-14993?

Update istio.io/istio to 1.1.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2019-14993 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2019-14993 in my Go dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for istio.io/istio, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2019-14993 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.

Is CVE-2019-14993 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 2 known exploit references for CVE-2019-14993, including 2 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2019-14993?

CVE-2019-14993 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 2.3%, placing it in the 83th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2019-14993?

CVE-2019-14993 is classified as CWE-185 (CWE-185). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2019-14993 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2019-14993 was published on August 13, 2019 and was last updated on October 24, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐹

🐹 Go

Not in CISA KEV

HIGH severity

CVE-2019-14993 — istio

HIGH

CVE-2019-14993 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-185 vulnerability in istio.io/istio. 2 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for istio.io/istio — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Istio ReDoS Vulnerability

Also known asGHSA-qcvw-82hh-gq38

Published

Aug 13, 2019

Updated

Oct 24, 2026

Affected

2 pkgs

Patched

2 / 2

Exploits

2 known

Exploitation data as of Oct 27, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

2.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs83th percentile — riskier than 83% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

2 pkgs affected

🐹istio.io/istio🐹istio.io/istio

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Istio before 1.1.13 and 1.2.x before 1.2.4 mishandles regular expressions for long URIs, leading to a denial of service during use of the JWT, VirtualService, HTTPAPISpecBinding, or QuotaSpecBinding API.

Affected Packages

2 total 2 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`istio.io/istio`	all versions	1.1.13`go get istio.io/istio@v1.1.13`
🐹Go	`istio.io/istio`	≥ 1.2.0&&< 1.2.4	1.2.4`go get istio.io/istio@v1.2.4`

Affected Products

1 product · 2 configurations

Application

istioistio

≥ 1.2.0 && < 1.2.4

range

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

Istio before 1.1.13 and 1.2.x before 1.2.4 mishandles regular expression…

github.comNVDAug 2019

Report on gcc.gnu.org

gcc.gnu.orgNVDAug 2019

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for istio.io/istio, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update istio.io/istio to 1.1.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2019-14993 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.

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.

Red HatImportant

Product	Fixed in	Advisory
Openshift Service Mesh 1.1	`kiali-0:v1.12.7.redhat1-1.el7`	RHEA-2020:1416

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2019-14993 in your dependencies?

Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

7.5/10CVSS v3 base

Vector breakdown

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Raw vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CWE Classification

CWE-185CWE-185

Weaponization

No Nuclei template or Metasploit module yet. 2 public proof-of-concept references are listed on this page.

OpenSSF Scorecard

Package health score

envoy

8.5/10

Dependency-Update-Tool10/10

Maintained10/10

Code-Review10/10

Branch-Protection4/10

Vulnerabilities0/10

Assessed Oct 28, 2026

Timeline

Disclosed

Aug 13, 2019

First exploit

Aug 16, 2019

3 days after disclosure — rapid exploitation

Last updated

Oct 24, 2026

Identifiers

CVE-2019-14993

GHSA-qcvw-82hh-gq38

References

Advisorydiscuss.istio.io Advisoryistio.io · istio security 003 004 Advisorynvd.nist.gov · CVE 2019 14993 Reportgcc.gnu.org · show bug.cgi Reportgithub.com Webistio.io · istio security 003 004

Related vulnerabilities

This CVE is high severity; 4 of 8 other CVEs affecting istio are rated as high or higher (top: high).

CVE-2026-39350CVE-2026-41413CVE-2022-31045CVE-2019-18817CVE-2022-23635CVE-2019-12243CVE-2020-16844CVE-2021-39155

Provenance

Sources

OSV.devNVDFIRST.org (EPSS)

Last verifiedOct 24, 2026

CVE-2019-14993 — istio

EPSS Exploitation Probability

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

Description

Affected Packages

Affected Products

Detection & mitigation playbook

Detect

Fix

Workarounds

Fixing This On Your OS

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CVE-2019-14993 in your dependencies?