# CVE-2014-3215: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can exploit seunshare's setuid behavior to gain elevated privileges by leveraging programs that incorrectly assume they can permanently drop privileges.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.9 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **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:** 8 May 2014
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h57c-m953-4q5h, MGASA-2014-0251, RHBA-2015:2161, SUSE-SU-2017:0375-1

## What is CVE-2014-3215?

CVE-2014-3215 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 8 May 2014. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

seunshare in policycoreutils 2.2.5 is owned by root with 4755 permissions, and executes programs in a way that changes the relationship between the setuid system call and the getresuid saved set-user-ID value, which makes it easier for local users to gain privileges by leveraging a program that mistakenly expected that it could permanently drop privileges.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-3215?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `libcap-ng` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-python` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-utils` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-python` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-utils` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-python` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-utils` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-python` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng-utils` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation | All versions | 0:0.7.5-4.el7 |
| `libcap-ng` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 | All versions | 0.6.3-1.9.6 |
| `libcap-ng` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 11 SP4 | All versions | 0.6.3-1.9.6 |
| `libcap-ng` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 11 SP4 | All versions | 0.6.3-1.9.6 |

Products: Selinuxproject Policycoreutils.

## How do I fix CVE-2014-3215?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2014-3215 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-3215 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2014-3215 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2014-3215 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 8 May 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-2014-3215 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-2014-3215/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3215/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-3215
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-3215
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2014-3215

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3215/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.