# CVE-2014-3538: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause denial of service via CPU consumption by submitting crafted files to the file utility, affecting Linux distributions.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/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:** 3 Jul 2014
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2014-3538, GHSA-p2f8-8pr7-gprp, MGASA-2014-0307, UBUNTU-CVE-2014-3538

## What is CVE-2014-3538?

CVE-2014-3538 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 3 Jul 2014. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

file before 5.19 does not properly restrict the amount of data read during a regex search, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via a crafted file that triggers backtracking during processing of an awk rule.  NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2013-7345.

Weakness: CWE-399

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-3538?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Christos Zoulas File, Debian Debian Linux, Php Php.

## How do I fix CVE-2014-3538?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2014-3538 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-3538 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2009-3930](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3930/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2009-1515](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1515/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2014-0207](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0207/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2014-3478](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3478/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2012-1571](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-1571/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2014-3538 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2014-3538 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 3 Jul 2014. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-3538 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. 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-2014-3538/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3538/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-3538
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-3538
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2014-3538

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3538/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.