Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A vulnerable curl/libcurl client can crash or be corrupted when it authenticates with NTLM to a malicious or faulty HTTP server. The business risk is disruption of systems that rely on curl-based outbound HTTP connections, especially automated services using older OS packages or embedded vendor appliances.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority patching issue for systems using older curl/libcurl, especially automated infrastructure and vendor products. Urgency is lower where NTLM is not used, but broad libcurl reuse makes inventory important.
Technical view
CVE-2019-3822 is a stack-based buffer overflow in libcurl 7.36.0 through versions before 7.64.0. The NTLM type-3 header creation path uses an incorrect unsigned arithmetic bounds check, allowing oversized NTLMv2 response data from a prior server header to exceed a local buffer.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where applications, scripts, agents, containers, appliances, or OS packages include vulnerable libcurl and perform HTTP NTLM authentication. Systems that never use NTLM authentication are less likely to be practically exposed, but version inventory is still required.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not identify CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. The scenario requires a client using vulnerable libcurl to process large NTLMv2 response data from a malicious or broken HTTP server before generating the outgoing NTLM type-3 header.
Researcher notes
The key exposure condition is the NTLM authentication code path in Curl_auth_create_ntlm_type3_message. Source evidence supports integrity and availability impact, with CVSS 7.1 and CWE-121. No exploit-in-the-wild claim is supported by the provided bundle.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade curl/libcurl using the relevant OS or vendor advisory guidance.
- Prioritize systems using HTTP NTLM authentication or connecting to untrusted servers.
- Refresh container base images and embedded runtime images that package libcurl.
- Consult vendor advisories for bundled third-party product exposure and fixes.
- If immediate upgrade is unavailable, review vendor guidance for supported compensating controls.
Validation and detection
- Inventory installed curl and libcurl versions across hosts, images, and appliances.
- Confirm whether applications use libcurl for HTTP NTLM authentication.
- Check package manager advisories from Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, Red Hat, or applicable vendors.
- Review SBOMs and container base images for vulnerable libcurl ranges.
- After patching, verify runtime-linked libcurl versions, not only package metadata.
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.
CWE-121: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2019-3822 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
- High
- CVSS
- 7.1 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H
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 vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H2.84.2Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
7.1HighVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- GLSA-201903-03CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_GENTOO
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-3822CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- DSA-4386CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_DEBIAN
- https://curl.haxx.se/docs/CVE-2019-3822.htmlCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190315-0001/CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- USN-3882-1CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_UBUNTU
- [infra-devnull] 20190404 [GitHub] [incubator-openwhisk-runtime-ballerina] falkzoll commented on issue #15: Update to new base image jdk8u202-b08_openj9-0.12.1.CVE reference · mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-436177.pdfCVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuapr2019-5072813.htmlCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujul2019-5072835.htmlCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190719-0004/CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K84141449CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K84141449?utm_source=f5support&%3Butm_medium=RSSCVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- RHSA-2019:3701CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
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.
Stack-based Buffer Overflow
Stack-based Buffer Overflow represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.