# CVE-2003-0854: Denial of service in n/a

> Local users can cause memory exhaustion via large ls arguments, potentially leading to remote denial of service in applications like wu-ftpd.

- **Severity:** Low 2.1 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 25 Oct 2003
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2003-0854, GHSA-qjv8-gc24-r5w4

## What is CVE-2003-0854?

CVE-2003-0854 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 25 Oct 2003. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

ls in the fileutils or coreutils packages allows local users to consume a large amount of memory via a large -w value, which can be remotely exploited via applications that use ls, such as wu-ftpd.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2003-0854?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Gnu Fileutils, Washington University Wu-Ftpd.

## How do I fix CVE-2003-0854?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2003-0854 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2003-0854 exists.

Public exploit code:

- WU-FTPD 2.6.2 - 'wuftpd-freezer.c' Remote Denial of Service (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2003-0853](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0853/): Integer overflow in n/a (medium 5.0)
- [CVE-2002-0435](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-0435/): Race condition in n/a (low 1.2)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2003-0854 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2003-0854 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 25 Oct 2003. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2003-0854 exists.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0854/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0854/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2003-0854
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2003-0854
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2003-0854

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0854/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.