CVE-2014-3538

file < 5.19 - Denial of Service via Regex Backtracking in AWK Rule Processing

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

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.

References (22)

Core 22
Core References
Third Party Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://support.apple.com/HT204659
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_redhat
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1766.html
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_debian
http://www.debian.org/security/2014/dsa-3021
Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1098222
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_redhat
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0760.html
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry x_refsource_bid
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/68348
Exploit, Patch, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://github.com/file/file/commit/4a284c89d6ef11aca34da65da7d673050a5ea320
Patch, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_confirm
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2017-3236626.html
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/06/30/7
Broken Link mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://mx.gw.com/pipermail/file/2014/001553.html
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_apple
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Apr/msg00001.html
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_debian
http://www.debian.org/security/2014/dsa-3008
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_redhat
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1327.html
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_redhat
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1765.html
Third Party Advisory third-party-advisory x_refsource_secunia
http://secunia.com/advisories/60696

Scores

EPSS 0.2716
EPSS Percentile 96.5%

Details

CWE
CWE-399
Status published
Products (22)
christos_zoulas/file 5.00
christos_zoulas/file 5.01
christos_zoulas/file 5.02
christos_zoulas/file 5.03
christos_zoulas/file 5.04
christos_zoulas/file 5.05
christos_zoulas/file 5.06
christos_zoulas/file 5.07
christos_zoulas/file 5.08
christos_zoulas/file 5.09
... and 12 more
Published Jul 03, 2014
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026