CVE-2019-9215
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2019-9215 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Live555 media streaming server where malformed authorization headers cause invalid memory access in parseAuthorizationHeader function. This allows remote attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service. Affects systems running vulnerable versions of Live555 media server.
💻 Affected Systems
- Live555 Media Server
- Applications using Live555 library
📦 What is this software?
Backports Sle by Opensuse
Backports Sle by Opensuse
Leap by Opensuse
Leap by Opensuse
Leap by Opensuse
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Remote code execution leading to complete system compromise, data theft, or ransomware deployment
Likely Case
Denial of service causing media streaming interruption and potential system crashes
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper network segmentation and exploit prevention controls
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires sending malformed authorization headers to vulnerable endpoints
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 2019.02.27 and later
Vendor Advisory: http://www.live555.com/liveMedia/public/changelog.txt
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download latest Live555 from official website 2. Compile and install new version 3. Restart all services using Live555 4. Verify version is 2019.02.27 or newer
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Network Filtering
linuxBlock malformed authorization headers at network perimeter
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport [LIVE555_PORT] -m string --string "Authorization:" --algo bm -j DROP
Service Isolation
linuxRun Live555 in isolated container with limited privileges
docker run --security-opt=no-new-privileges --cap-drop=ALL -d [LIVE555_IMAGE]
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network segmentation to isolate Live555 servers
- Deploy WAF rules to block malformed authorization headers
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Live555 version: grep 'LIVE555_VERSION' in source or running binaryCheck Version:
strings /path/to/live555MediaServer | grep LIVE555_VERSIONVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 2019.02.27 or newer and test with malformed authorization headers📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Authorization header parsing errors
- Segmentation faults in Live555 logs
- Unusual authorization attempts
Network Indicators:
- Malformed HTTP headers to media streaming ports
- Unusual traffic patterns to Live555 services
SIEM Query:
source="live555.log" AND ("segmentation fault" OR "invalid memory" OR "authorization parse")🔗 References
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-07/msg00044.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-08/msg00024.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-07/msg00009.html
- http://www.live555.com/liveMedia/public/changelog.txt
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/03/msg00022.html
- https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Mar/22
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202005-06
- https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4408
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-07/msg00044.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-08/msg00024.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-07/msg00009.html
- http://www.live555.com/liveMedia/public/changelog.txt
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/03/msg00022.html
- https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Mar/22
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202005-06
- https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4408
