# CVE-2014-4171: Denial of service in n/a

> Local attackers can cause a denial of service in the Linux kernel by exploiting a flaw in shared memory hole punching interactions.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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:** 23 Jun 2014
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2014-4171, GHSA-p5vf-58qw-qq73, UBUNTU-CVE-2014-4171

## What is CVE-2014-4171?

CVE-2014-4171 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 23 Jun 2014. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

mm/shmem.c in the Linux kernel through 3.15.1 does not properly implement the interaction between range notification and hole punching, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (i_mutex hold) by using the mmap system call to access a hole, as demonstrated by interfering with intended shmem activity by blocking completion of (1) an MADV_REMOVE madvise call or (2) an FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE fallocate call.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-4171?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2014-4171?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2014-4171 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-4171 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2014-4171 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2014-4171 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 23 Jun 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-2014-4171 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu 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-2014-4171/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-4171/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-4171
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-4171
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2014-4171

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-4171/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.