# CVE-2014-8583: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Attackers can gain privileges via unspecified vectors when mod_wsgi fails to drop group privileges during daemon process creation.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.9 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Dec 2014
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2014-8583, GHSA-6mwv-34hq-6gqx, MGASA-2014-0513, UBUNTU-CVE-2014-8583, USN-2431-1

## What is CVE-2014-8583?

CVE-2014-8583 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 16 Dec 2014. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

mod_wsgi before 4.2.4 for Apache, when creating a daemon process group, does not properly handle when group privileges cannot be dropped, which might allow attackers to gain privileges via unspecified vectors.

Weakness: CWE-254

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-8583?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Modwsgi Mod Wsgi.

## How do I fix CVE-2014-8583?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2014-8583 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-8583 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2014-0242](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0242/): Use after free in mod wsgi (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2014-0240](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0240/): Privilege escalation in n/a (medium 6.2)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2014-8583 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2014-8583 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 16 Dec 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-2014-8583 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-2014-8583/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-8583/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-8583
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-8583
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2014-8583

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-8583/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.