What is CVE-2019-16278?

CVE-2019-16278 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Nazgul Nostromo Nhttpd, classified under Path Traversal. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2019-10-14.

How severe is CVE-2019-16278?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2019-16278 known to be exploited?

Yes. CVE-2019-16278 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2024-11-07), indicating it is being actively exploited. 81 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.

Path Traversal in Nazgul Nostromo Nhttpd

CVE-2019-16278

Directory Traversal in the function http_verify in nostromo nhttpd through 1.9.6 allows an attacker to achieve remote code execution via a crafted HTTP request.

Vulnerability class: Path Traversal (Directory Traversal)

Published 2019-10-14 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.990 (99.9th percentile), scored 2026-10-17.

Very high probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — among the top 0.1% most-likely-to-be-exploited CVEs. 100th percentile — 99.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.990 · newest: 0.990 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Nazgul Nostromo Nhttpd

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-22 — Path Traversal

CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)

This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on 2024-11-07. CISA KEV inclusion means CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; US federal agencies are required to remediate within a published due date.

BOD 22-01 due date: 2024-11-28.

Required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

www.nazgul.ch/dev/nostromo_cl.txt (Release Notes)
sp0re.sh (Not Applicable, Broken Link)
git.sp0re.sh/sp0re/Nhttpd-exploits (Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Broken Link)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/155045/Nostromo-1.9.6-Directory-Traversal-Remote-… (Exploit, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/155802/nostromo-1.9.6-Remote-Code-Execution.html (Exploit, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (US Government Resource)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-16278?: CVE-2019-16278 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Nazgul Nostromo Nhttpd, classified under Path Traversal. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2019-10-14.
How severe is CVE-2019-16278?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2019-16278 known to be exploited?: Yes. CVE-2019-16278 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2024-11-07), indicating it is being actively exploited. 81 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.