{"id":"CVE-2014-3538","url":"https://www.cyber-defence.io/tools/cve/CVE-2014-3538","generatedAt":"2026-11-05T06:58:57.484Z","title":"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.","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.","published":"2014-07-03T14:55:08.000Z","lastModified":"2026-06-17T00:08:27.000Z","status":"Modified","sourceIdentifier":"secalert@redhat.com","cvss":{"version":"2.0","score":5,"severity":"MEDIUM","vector":"AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P"},"cwe":["CWE-399"],"affected":["christos zoulas/file","php/php","debian/debian linux"],"epss":{"score":0.11814,"percentile":0.96099,"date":"2026-11-04","history":[]},"kev":{"listed":false},"exploits":{"count":0,"verified":false,"firstPublished":null,"source":"Exploit-DB (https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb)","entries":[]},"verdict":{"level":"urgent","text":"EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 11.8%, higher than 96% of all known CVEs. Patch or mitigate before the next change window."},"changes":[],"references":[{"url":"http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Apr/msg00001.html","tags":["Mailing List","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://mx.gw.com/pipermail/file/2014/001553.html","tags":["Broken Link"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/06/30/7","tags":["Mailing List","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1327.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1765.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1766.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0760.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://secunia.com/advisories/60696","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://www.debian.org/security/2014/dsa-3008","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://www.debian.org/security/2014/dsa-3021","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2017-3236626.html","tags":["Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinjan2015-2370101.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinapr2016-2952096.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinoct2015-2719645.html","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/68348","tags":["Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1098222","tags":["Issue Tracking","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"https://github.com/file/file/commit/4a284c89d6ef11aca34da65da7d673050a5ea320","tags":["Exploit","Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"https://github.com/file/file/commit/69a5a43b3b71f53b0577f41264a073f495799610","tags":["Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"https://github.com/file/file/commit/71a8b6c0d758acb0f73e2e51421a711b5e9d6668","tags":["Exploit","Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"secalert@redhat.com"},{"url":"https://github.com/file/file/commit/74cafd7de9ec99a14f4480927580e501c8f852c3","tags":["Exploit","Patch","Third Party 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Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://github.com/file/file/commit/69a5a43b3b71f53b0577f41264a073f495799610","tags":["Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://github.com/file/file/commit/71a8b6c0d758acb0f73e2e51421a711b5e9d6668","tags":["Exploit","Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://github.com/file/file/commit/74cafd7de9ec99a14f4480927580e501c8f852c3","tags":["Exploit","Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://github.com/file/file/commit/758e066df72fb1ac08d2eea91ddc3973d259e991","tags":["Exploit","Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://support.apple.com/HT204659","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"}],"sources":{"nvd":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-3538","epss":"https://www.first.org/epss/","kev":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","exploitdb":"https://www.exploit-db.com/"},"licence":"CC BY 4.0 — link back to the CVE Explorer if you publish the results; upstream data remains subject to its own terms."}