# CVE-2015-1865: Race condition in n/a

> Local attackers can exploit a race condition in coreutils to delete arbitrary files, impacting system integrity.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 20 Sep 2017
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2025
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-1865, GHSA-3x5m-g386-pxwq

## What is CVE-2015-1865?

CVE-2015-1865 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 20 Sep 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

fts.c in coreutils 8.4 allows local users to delete arbitrary files.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization), CWE-367 (Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-1865?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Gnu Coreutils.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-1865?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2015-1865 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2015-1865 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2015-4042](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-4042/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2015-4041](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-4041/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2017-18018](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-18018/): Race condition in n/a (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2024-0684](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-0684/): Coreutils: heap overflow in split --line-bytes with very long lines (medium 5.5)
- [CVE-2026-56391](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-56391/): Out‑of‑bounds Read in GNU coreutils (medium 4.6)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-1865 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-1865 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 20 Sep 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2015-1865 exists.

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-2015-1865/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1865/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-1865
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-1865
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-1865

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1865/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.