# CVE-2014-7272: Race condition in n/a

> Local attackers can gain root privileges by exploiting race conditions in SDDM's handling of user home directory files.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/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:** 8 Mar 2018
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2014-7272, GHSA-2qgx-m88q-gp35

## What is CVE-2014-7272?

CVE-2014-7272 is a high-severity vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 8 Mar 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Simple Desktop Display Manager (SDDM) before 0.10.0 allows local users to gain root privileges because code running as root performs write operations within a user home directory, and this user may have created links in advance (exploitation requires the user to win a race condition in the ~/.Xauthority chown case, but not other cases).

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-7272?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Fedoraproject Fedora, Sddm Project Sddm.

## How do I fix CVE-2014-7272?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2014-7272 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-7272 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fedoraproject Fedora

- [CVE-2024-4577](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4577/): PHP-CGI OS Command Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-39226](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39226/): Grafana Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-5544](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5544/): VMware ESXi and Horizon DaaS OpenSLP Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4947](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4947/): Google Chromium V8 Type Confusion (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4671](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4671/): Google Chromium Visuals Use-After-Free (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2014-7272 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2014-7272 is a high-severity vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 8 Mar 2018. 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-2014-7272 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Fedoraproject Fedora. 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-2014-7272/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-7272/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-7272
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-7272
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2014-7272

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-7272/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.