HOMEVULNERABILITIESCVE-2019-17212
CRITICAL

CVE-2019-17212

CWE-129Published: November 5, 2019· Updated: Jun 17, 2026

9.8
CVSS v3.1

Official Description

Buffer overflows were discovered in the CoAP library in Arm Mbed OS 5.14.0. The CoAP parser is responsible for parsing received CoAP packets. The function sn_coap_parser_options_parse() parses CoAP input linearly using a while loop. Once an option is parsed in a loop, the current point (*packet_data_pptr) is increased correspondingly. The pointer is restricted by the size of the received buffer, as well as by the 0xFF delimiter byte. Inside each while loop, the check of the value of *packet_data_pptr is not strictly enforced. More specifically, inside a loop, *packet_data_pptr could be increased and then dereferenced without checking. Moreover, there are many other functions in the format of sn_coap_parser_****() that do not check whether the pointer is within the bounds of the allocated buffer. All of these lead to heap-based or stack-based buffer overflows, depending on how the CoAP packet buffer is allocated.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2019-17212 can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring physical or adjacent access, significantly expanding the attack surface for threat actors.

The vulnerability requires no privileges and no user interaction, making it a prime target for automated exploitation campaigns and worm-like propagation.

A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 9.8.

CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown

Exploitability
Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges Req.None
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
Impact
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Vendors & Products

mbed1 product(s)
mbed
Source: NVD CPE · 2 total CPE entries

Exploit & PoC Resources

NO KNOWN EXPLOITNo public exploit confirmed at this time
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Official Patches & Advisories

All References (14)

https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbed-os/issues/11803Issue Tracking · Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbed-os/issues/11803Issue Tracking · Third Party Advisory

Quick Facts

CVE IDCVE-2019-17212
CVSS Score9.8 / 10
SeverityCRITICAL
WeaknessCWE-129
CISA KEVNo
Affected1 vendor(s)
PublishedNov 5, 2019

Related CVEs (CWE-129)

Recommended Actions

  • Apply vendor patches immediately
  • Monitor CVE-2019-17212 in threat intel feeds
  • Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts
Data sourced from NVD (NIST), CISA KEV, and EPSS (FIRST). Analysis generated by CTIWATCH.COM. CVE data is provided under the NVD usage policy.