# CVE-2014-0017: Information disclosure in n/a

> Local attackers can obtain sensitive information via PRNG state sharing in libssh when forking is enabled, requiring a version upgrade.

- **Severity:** Low 1.9 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 14 Mar 2014
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2014-0017, DSA-2879-1, GHSA-mw96-qp3x-6qgr, MGASA-2014-0119

## What is CVE-2014-0017?

CVE-2014-0017 is a low-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 14 Mar 2014. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The RAND_bytes function in libssh before 0.6.3, when forking is enabled, does not properly reset the state of the OpenSSL pseudo-random number generator (PRNG), which causes the state to be shared between children processes and allows local users to obtain sensitive information by leveraging a pid collision.

Weakness: CWE-310

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-0017?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Libssh Libssh.

## How do I fix CVE-2014-0017?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2014-0017 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-0017 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2026-59851](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-59851/): Libssh: libssh: authentication bypass via missing gssapi principal check (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2025-5987](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-5987/): Libssh: invalid return code for chacha20 poly1305 with openssl backend (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2025-14821](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-14821/): Libssh: libssh: insecure default configuration leads to local man-in-the-middle attacks on windows (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2012-4560](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4560/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2012-4562](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4562/): Integer overflow in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2014-0017 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2014-0017 is a low-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 14 Mar 2014. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-0017 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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-2014-0017/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0017/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-0017
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-0017
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2014-0017

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0017/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.