# CVE-2014-0979: Null dereference in n/a

> Local attackers can cause a denial of service in LightDM GTK+ Greeter by triggering a NULL pointer dereference with an empty username.

- **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:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 23 Jan 2014
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2014-0979, GHSA-3wgq-2r52-v65w, MGASA-2014-0026

## What is CVE-2014-0979?

CVE-2014-0979 is a low-severity vulnerability in Opensuse Opensuse, published on 23 Jan 2014. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The start_authentication function in lightdm-gtk-greeter.c in LightDM GTK+ Greeter before 1.7.1 does not properly handle the return value from the lightdm_greeter_get_authentication_user function, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference) via an empty username.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-0979?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Lightdm Gtk\+ Greeter Project Lightdm Gtk\+ Greeter, Opensuse Opensuse.

## How do I fix CVE-2014-0979?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2014-0979 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-0979 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2014-0979 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2014-0979 is a low-severity vulnerability in Opensuse Opensuse, published on 23 Jan 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-2014-0979 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Opensuse Opensuse. 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-2014-0979/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0979/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-0979
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-0979
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2014-0979

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0979/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.