Security advisory

{
  "id": "331afc9a9edec2e2d8a61152ad2d0143f9a0d58ba48f072d770080542610adfd",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-16941",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "CVE-2019-16941",
    "summary": "NSA Ghidra through 9.0.4, when experimental mode is enabled, allows arbitrary code execution if the Read XML Files feature of Bit Patterns Explorer is used with a modified XML document. This occurs in Features/BytePatterns/src/main/java/ghidra/bitpatterns/info/FileBitPatternInfoReader.java. An attack could start with an XML document that was originally created by DumpFunctionPatternInfoScript but then directly modified by an attacker (for example, to make a java.lang.Runtime.exec call).",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2019-16941",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "critical",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2019-16941",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2019-16941"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/nationalsecurityagency/ghidra",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "last_affected": "6b4d64a2ac07f154bf1fca307ad99aaa522d41e4"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "a17728f8c12effa171b17a25ccfb7e7d9528c5d0"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:nsa:ghidra:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "0"
                      },
                      {
                        "last_affected": "9.0.4"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "fixed": "a17728f8c12effa171b17a25ccfb7e7d9528c5d0"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_COMMIT"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
            "Ghidra_9.0.4_build",
            "Ghidra_9.0.3_build",
            "Ghidra_9.0.1_build"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2019-16941.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-20T10:50:17.023765977Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://twitter.com/NSAGov/status/1178812792159248385",
        "https://github.com/NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra/blob/79d8f164f8bb8b15cfb60c5d4faeb8e1c25d15ca/Ghidra/Features/BytePatterns/src/main/java/ghidra/bitpatterns/info/FileBitPatternInfoReader.java#L187-L188",
        "https://www.symantec.com/security-center/vulnerabilities/writeup/110223?om_rssid=sr-advisories",
        "https://github.com/NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra/commit/a17728f8c12effa171b17a25ccfb7e7d9528c5d0",
        "https://github.com/NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra/issues/1090",
        "https://github.com/purpleracc00n/CVE-2019-16941"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {}
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2019-16941",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 381480,
  "published_at": "2019-09-28T16:15:09.997+00:00"
}