# CVE-2014-9402: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service via infinite loop in glibc's getnetbyname when DNS backend is enabled.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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:** 24 Feb 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2014-9402, DLA-122-1, GHSA-9rf5-3j57-32x7, UBUNTU-CVE-2014-9402

## What is CVE-2014-9402?

CVE-2014-9402 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 24 Feb 2015. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The nss_dns implementation of getnetbyname in GNU C Library (aka glibc) before 2.21, when the DNS backend in the Name Service Switch configuration is enabled, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) by sending a positive answer while a network name is being process.

Weakness: CWE-399

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-9402?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Gnu Glibc, Opensuse Opensuse.

## How do I fix CVE-2014-9402?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2014-9402 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-9402 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-2014-9402 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2014-9402 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 24 Feb 2015. 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-2014-9402 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-2014-9402/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-9402/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-9402
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-9402
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2014-9402

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-9402/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.