CVE-2015-4041 Memory corruption in n/a

High 7.8 Published 24 Jan 2020 Updated 6 Aug 2024

A heap-based buffer overflow in GNU Coreutils sort allows attackers to cause denial of service or potentially execute code via long UTF-8 strings.

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

What is CVE-2015-4041?

CVE-2015-4041 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 24 Jan 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The keycompare_mb function in sort.c in sort in GNU Coreutils through 8.23 on 64-bit platforms performs a size calculation without considering the number of bytes occupied by multibyte characters, which allows attackers to cause a denial of service (heap-based buffer overflow and application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via long UTF-8 strings.

Weakness: CWE-787

Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-4041?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Gnu Coreutils.

How do I fix CVE-2015-4041?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.

Is CVE-2015-4041 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-4041 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-2pj6-g889-m5jr.