# CVE-2014-3856: Race condition in n/a

> Local attackers can gain privileges by exploiting a race condition in fish shell's temporary file creation.

- **Severity:** High 7.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** 28 Jan 2020
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2014-3856, GHSA-mh78-c455-hh2q

## What is CVE-2014-3856?

CVE-2014-3856 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 28 Jan 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The funced function in fish (aka fish-shell) 1.23.0 before 2.1.1 does not properly create temporary files, which allows local users to gain privileges via a temporary file with a predictable name.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-3856?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Fishshell Fish.

## How do I fix CVE-2014-3856?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2014-3856 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-3856 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2014-2914](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-2914/): Code injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2014-2906](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-2906/): Race condition in n/a (high 7.0)
- [CVE-2014-2905](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-2905/): Privilege escalation in n/a (medium 6.9)
- [CVE-2023-49284](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-49284/): Command substitution output can trigger shell expansion in fish shell (low 3.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2014-3856 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2014-3856 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 28 Jan 2020. 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-2014-3856 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-2014-3856/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3856/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-3856
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-3856
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2014-3856

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3856/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.