Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
OpenSC versions before 0.20.0 contain a memory-management bug in CoolKey handling. The public record does not provide severity, CVSS, affected CPEs, or evidence of exploitation. Organizations using older OpenSC should inventory and update because memory-safety issues can affect reliability and, in some cases, security boundaries.
Executive priority
Treat this as an inventory-and-patch item, not an emergency based on current evidence. Raise priority for environments relying on smart cards, authentication middleware, or regulated endpoint builds using old OpenSC packages.
Technical view
CVE-2019-20792 is a double free in OpenSC's libopensc/card-coolkey.c. The CVE states coolkey_add_object lacked a uniqueness check, leading to double freeing in coolkey_free_private_data. The version boundary given is OpenSC before 0.20.0, with an upstream commit and 0.19.0-to-0.20.0 comparison referenced.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where OpenSC before 0.20.0 is installed and CoolKey-related smart card functionality is reachable. The source bundle does not identify platforms, distributions, packages, CPEs, or whether default configurations are affected.
Exploitation context
The source bundle references OSS-Fuzz and upstream OpenSC changes, but provides no exploit report, weaponization detail, or proof of active exploitation. CISA KEV status is false in the provided data, so active exploitation is not established.
Researcher notes
Key gaps are CVSS, CWE, affected CPEs, exploitability conditions, and platform packaging status. The strongest technical anchor is the upstream commit tied to duplicate object handling in card-coolkey.c.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade OpenSC to 0.20.0 or later where available.
- Check operating system package advisories for backported OpenSC fixes.
- Reduce exposure to untrusted smart cards until patched.
- Track vendor guidance if OpenSC is embedded in managed products.
Validation and detection
- Identify installed OpenSC versions across workstations and servers.
- Confirm whether CoolKey support or smart card workflows are in use.
- Verify package changelogs include the referenced upstream fix.
- Review crash telemetry for OpenSC or smart card parsing failures.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2019-20792 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://bugs.chromium.org/p/oss-fuzz/issues/detail?id=19208CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/OpenSC/OpenSC/commit/c246f6f69a749d4f68626b40795a4f69168008f4CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/OpenSC/OpenSC/compare/0.19.0...0.20.0CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.