# CVE-2014-8989: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can bypass file permissions and escalate privileges by exploiting a flaw in supplemental group membership handling within Linux kernel namespaces.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.6 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P`)
- **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:** 30 Nov 2014
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2014-8989, GHSA-86g9-4xm6-2vw3, UBUNTU-CVE-2014-8989

## What is CVE-2014-8989?

CVE-2014-8989 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 30 Nov 2014. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Linux kernel through 3.17.4 does not properly restrict dropping of supplemental group memberships in certain namespace scenarios, which allows local users to bypass intended file permissions by leveraging a POSIX ACL containing an entry for the group category that is more restrictive than the entry for the other category, aka a "negative groups" issue, related to kernel/groups.c, kernel/uid16.c, and kernel/user_namespace.c.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-8989?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2014-8989?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2014-8989 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-8989 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2014-8989 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2014-8989 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 30 Nov 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-2014-8989 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. 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-2014-8989/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-8989/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-8989
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-8989
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2014-8989

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-8989/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.