CVE-2019-17638
CWE-672Published: July 9, 2020· Updated: Jun 17, 2026
Official Description
In Eclipse Jetty, versions 9.4.27.v20200227 to 9.4.29.v20200521, in case of too large response headers, Jetty throws an exception to produce an HTTP 431 error. When this happens, the ByteBuffer containing the HTTP response headers is released back to the ByteBufferPool twice. Because of this double release, two threads can acquire the same ByteBuffer from the pool and while thread1 is about to use the ByteBuffer to write response1 data, thread2 fills the ByteBuffer with other data. Thread1 then proceeds to write the buffer that now contains different data. This results in client1, which issued request1 seeing data from another request or response which could contain sensitive data belonging to client2 (HTTP session ids, authentication credentials, etc.). If the Jetty version cannot be upgraded, the vulnerability can be significantly reduced by configuring a responseHeaderSize significantly larger than the requestHeaderSize (12KB responseHeaderSize and 8KB requestHeaderSize).
Technical Analysis
CVE-2019-17638 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), with a CVSS base score of 9.4.
CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown
Affected Vendors & Products
Exploit & PoC Resources
Official Patches & Advisories
All References (34)
Quick Facts
Related CVEs (CWE-672)
Recommended Actions
- →Apply vendor patches immediately
- →Monitor CVE-2019-17638 in threat intel feeds
- →Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts