What is CVE-2019-17640?

CVE-2019-17640 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Eclipse Vert.x, classified under Relative Path Traversal. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-10-15.

How severe is CVE-2019-17640?

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

Is CVE-2019-17640 known to be exploited?

7 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Path Traversal in Eclipse Vert.x

CVE-2019-17640

In Eclipse Vert.x 3.4.x up to 3.9.4, 4.0.0.milestone1, 4.0.0.milestone2, 4.0.0.milestone3, 4.0.0.milestone4, 4.0.0.milestone5, 4.0.0.Beta1, 4.0.0.Beta2, and 4.0.0.Beta3, StaticHandler doesn't correctly processes back slashes on Windows Operating systems, allowing, escape the webroot folder to the current working directory.

Published 2020-10-15 · 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: 0.020 (80.0th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 80th percentile — 80.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.020 · newest: 0.020 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Eclipse Vert.x — versions 4.0.0
The Eclipse Foundation Vert.x — versions 3.4.x up to 3.9.4, 4.0.0.milestone1, 4.0.0.milestone2, 4.0.0.milestone3, 4.0.0.milestone4, 4.0.0.milestone5, 4.0.0.Beta1, 4.0.0.Beta2, 4.0.0.Beta3

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi (Vendor Advisory)
lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd0e44e8ef71eeaaa3cf3d1b8b41eb25894372e2995ec908ce… (mailing-list)
lists.apache.org/thread.html/r8383b5e7344a8b872e430ad72241b84b83e9701d275c602cf…
lists.apache.org/thread.html/rfd0ebf8387cfd0b959d1e218797e709793cce51a5ea2f84d0… (mailing-list)
lists.apache.org/thread.html/r8d863b148efe778ce5f8f961d0cafeda399e681d3f0656233… (mailing-list)
lists.apache.org/thread.html/r591f6932560c8c46cee87415afed92924a982189fea7f7c90… (mailing-list)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-17640?: CVE-2019-17640 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Eclipse Vert.x, classified under Relative Path Traversal. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-10-15.
How severe is CVE-2019-17640?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2019-17640 known to be exploited?: 7 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.