CVE-2019-17662

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2022-05-24. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Weaponized
9.8
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 97%
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 97%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

ThinVNC 1.0b1 is vulnerable to arbitrary file read, which leads to a compromise of the VNC server. The vulnerability exists even when authentication is turned on during the deployment of the VNC server. The password for authentication is stored in cleartext in a file that can be read via a ../../ThinVnc.ini directory traversal attack vector.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EG Risk
87(Track*)
EG Risk 87/100SSVC: Track*

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation97% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Watch closely — could escalate to Attend.
EPSS
99.9%
KEV
Not listed

Published

October 16, 2019

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

Advisory Details (2)

Auto-updated Jul 5, 2026
⚠️ Active exploitation confirmed. No patch confirmed yet.
generic🔴 Active Exploitation

ThinVNC Client Authentication Bypass

https://redteamzone.com/ThinVNC/
generic

Authentication Bypass and Arbitrary file read can compromise this VNC server · Issue #5 · bewest/thinvnc · GitHub

https://github.com/bewest/thinvnc/issues/5

Weakness Classification(2)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 4× in last 7d / 9× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-07-23 01:42 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-07-22 22:22 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-09 19:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-11 13:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-05 22:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-05 22:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-05-27 12:57 UTCEG score recompute
  25. 2026-05-27 12:57 UTCGHSA enrichment

Publicly available exploits

(6 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module) (3 GitHub PoCs) (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • GitHub PoCbl4ck574r/CVE-2019-17662
    First seen Sep 13, 2022
    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCwhokilleddb/CVE-2019-17662
    First seen Oct 2, 2021

    Exploit for CVE-2019-17662 (ThinVNC 1.0b1)

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCMuirlandOracle/CVE-2019-17662
    First seen Aug 31, 2021

    Exploit code for CVE-2019-17662

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-47519✓ verified
    First seen Oct 17, 2019

    ThinVNC 1.0b1 - Authentication Bypass

    Open source ↗
  • Metasploitauxiliary/scanner/http/thinvnc_traversal✓ verified
    First seen Oct 16, 2019

    ThinVNC Directory Traversal

    Open source ↗
  • Nucleihttp/cves/2019/CVE-2019-17662.yaml
    First seen Jan 1, 2019

    ThinVNC 1.0b1 - Authentication Bypass

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2019-17662?
CVE-2019-17662 is a critical vulnerability published on October 16, 2019. ThinVNC 1.0b1 is vulnerable to arbitrary file read, which leads to a compromise of the VNC server. The vulnerability exists even when authentication is turned on during the deployment of the VNC server. The password for authentication is stored in cleartext in a file that can be read via a…
When was CVE-2019-17662 disclosed?
CVE-2019-17662 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on October 16, 2019, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2019-17662 actively exploited?
CVE-2019-17662 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 99.9% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2019-17662?
CVE-2019-17662 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2019-17662?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2019-17662, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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