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Vulnerability record · CVE-2014-3538 · published 3 July 2014

CVE-2014-3538: Christos zoulas file vulnerability

CChristos Zoulas · File

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.

5.0 CVSS 2.0 Medium EPSS 12% · top 4.1% CWE-399 · CWE-399
5.0CVSS 2.0 base score
12%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
3Affected product versions listed by NVD
44References, 8 tagged exploit
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

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.

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Affected products

3 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

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

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2014-3538), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.