CVE-2014-3538

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    CVE-2014-3538

    Published: 3 Jul 2014Last Modified: 16 Apr 2026

    Summary:

    Details: file before 5.19 does not properly restrict the amount of data read during a regex search, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via a crafted file that triggers backtracking during processing of an awk rule. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2013-7345.

    References: http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Apr/msg00001.html, http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/06/30/7, http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1327.html, http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1765.html, http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1766.html, http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0760.html, http://secunia.com/advisories/60696, http://www.debian.org/security/2014/dsa-3008, http://www.debian.org/security/2014/dsa-3021, http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2017-3236626.html, http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinjan2015-2370101.html, http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinapr2016-2952096.html, http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinoct2015-2719645.html, http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/68348, https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1098222, https://github.com/file/file/commit/4a284c89d6ef11aca34da65da7d673050a5ea320, https://github.com/file/file/commit/69a5a43b3b71f53b0577f41264a073f495799610, https://github.com/file/file/commit/71a8b6c0d758acb0f73e2e51421a711b5e9d6668, https://github.com/file/file/commit/74cafd7de9ec99a14f4480927580e501c8f852c3, https://github.com/file/file/commit/758e066df72fb1ac08d2eea91ddc3973d259e991, https://support.apple.com/HT204659, http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Apr/msg00001.html, http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/06/30/7, https://github.com/file/file/commit/4a284c89d6ef11aca34da65da7d673050a5ea320, https://github.com/file/file/commit/71a8b6c0d758acb0f73e2e51421a711b5e9d6668, https://github.com/file/file/commit/74cafd7de9ec99a14f4480927580e501c8f852c3, https://github.com/file/file/commit/758e066df72fb1ac08d2eea91ddc3973d259e991, http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2017-3236626.html, https://github.com/file/file/commit/4a284c89d6ef11aca34da65da7d673050a5ea320, https://github.com/file/file/commit/69a5a43b3b71f53b0577f41264a073f495799610, https://github.com/file/file/commit/71a8b6c0d758acb0f73e2e51421a711b5e9d6668, https://github.com/file/file/commit/74cafd7de9ec99a14f4480927580e501c8f852c3, https://github.com/file/file/commit/758e066df72fb1ac08d2eea91ddc3973d259e991, https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1098222, http://mx.gw.com/pipermail/file/2014/001553.html

    Affected packages

    Common Vulnerability Scoring System

    Attack Vector
    Network
    Adjacent
    Local
    Physical
    Privileges Required
    None
    Low
    High
    User Interaction
    None
    Required
    Scope
    Unchanged
    Changed
    Confidentiality
    None
    Low
    High
    Integrity
    None
    Low
    High
    Availability
    None
    Low
    High