CVE-2019-14871

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2020-03-18 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

The REENT_CHECK macro (see newlib/libc/include/sys/reent.h) as used by REENT_CHECK_TM, REENT_CHECK_MISC, REENT_CHECK_MP and other newlib macros in versions prior to 3.3.0, does not check for memory allocation problems when the DEBUG flag is unset (as is the case in production firmware builds).

Affected products

Red Hat newlib: before 3.3.0 — fixed in 3.3.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Red Hat newlib 3.3.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://census-labs.com/news/2020/01/31/multiple-null-pointer-dereference-vulnerabilities-in-newlib/
https://census-labs.com/news/2020/01/31/multiple-null-pointer-dereference-vulnerabilities-in-newlib/

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