CVE-2014-2855 Denial of service in n/a
Remote attackers can cause a denial of service in rsync via an infinite loop triggered by a non-existent username in the secrets file.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2014-2855?
CVE-2014-2855 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 23 Apr 2014. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
The check_secret function in authenticate.c in rsync 3.1.0 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop and CPU consumption) via a user name which does not exist in the secrets file.
Weakness: CWE-20
Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-2855?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Samba Rsync.
How do I fix CVE-2014-2855?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2014-2855 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-2855 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in n/a
- CVE-2017-15994 Security feature bypass in n/a
- CVE-2026-53791 rsync < 3.5.0 Daemon IP Spoofing via PROXY Protocol Header
- CVE-2026-70461 rsync 3.2.5 < 3.5.0 Heap Out-of-Bounds Write via files-from Entry
- CVE-2026-70455 rsync 3.4.2 < 3.5.0 DoS via --zt Zstandard Compression Thread Exhaustion
- CVE-2026-70463 rsync 3.1.0 < 3.5.0 Authorization Bypass via auth users Directive Parsing
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2014-2855, GHSA-56mx-jc29-3mp9, MGASA-2015-0065, UBUNTU-CVE-2014-2855, USN-2171-1.