BREW-PYINSTALLER-CVE-201… (CVE-2019-16784)
Vulnerability from osv_homebrew – Published: 2026-08-13 17:29 – Updated: 2026-09-14 10:07 – Source websiteIn PyInstaller before version 3.6, only on Windows, a local privilege escalation vulnerability is present in this particular case: If a software using PyInstaller in "onefile" mode is launched by a privileged user (at least more than the current one) which have his "TempPath" resolving to a world writable directory. This is the case for example if the software is launched as a service or as a scheduled task using a system account (TempPath will be C:\Windows\Temp). In order to be exploitable the software has to be (re)started after the attacker launch the exploit program, so for a service launched at startup, a service restart is needed (e.g. after a crash or an upgrade).
| URL | Type | |
|---|---|---|
{
"affected": [
{
"ecosystem_specific": {
"fix": "bump",
"range_state": "fixed",
"upstream_fixed_in": "3.6"
},
"package": {
"ecosystem": "Homebrew",
"name": "pyinstaller",
"purl": "pkg:brew/pyinstaller"
},
"ranges": [
{
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "6.22.0"
}
],
"type": "ECOSYSTEM"
}
]
}
],
"database_specific": {
"confidence": "high",
"source": "matched",
"strategy": "git",
"upstream_evidence": [
{
"ecosystem": "GIT",
"key": "https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller",
"name": "https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller",
"strategy": "git",
"subject_version": "6.22.3"
},
{
"ecosystem": "PyPI",
"key": "pkg:pypi/pyinstaller@6.22.3",
"name": "pyinstaller",
"strategy": "registry",
"subject_version": "6.22.3"
}
]
},
"details": "In PyInstaller before version 3.6, only on Windows, a local privilege escalation vulnerability is present in this particular case: If a software using PyInstaller in \"onefile\" mode is launched by a privileged user (at least more than the current one) which have his \"TempPath\" resolving to a world writable directory. This is the case for example if the software is launched as a service or as a scheduled task using a system account (TempPath will be C:\\Windows\\Temp). In order to be exploitable the software has to be (re)started after the attacker launch the exploit program, so for a service launched at startup, a service restart is needed (e.g. after a crash or an upgrade).",
"id": "BREW-pyinstaller-CVE-2019-16784",
"modified": "2026-09-14T10:07:13Z",
"published": "2026-08-13T17:29:36Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "FIX",
"url": "https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller/security/advisories/GHSA-7fcj-pq9j-wh2r"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.7.3",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
],
"upstream": [
"CVE-2019-16784",
"GHSA-7fcj-pq9j-wh2r",
"PYSEC-2020-175"
]
}
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
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- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
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