# CVE-2018-14659: Denial of service in glusterfs

> A remote authenticated attacker can cause denial of service in GlusterFS by repeatedly setting a specific extended attribute, filling the server's runtime directory.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 31 Oct 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2018-14659, GHSA-75jx-33j6-76c5, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-14659

## What is CVE-2018-14659?

CVE-2018-14659 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 31 Oct 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Gluster file system through versions 4.1.4 and 3.1.2 is vulnerable to a denial of service attack via use of the 'GF_XATTR_IOSTATS_DUMP_KEY' xattr. A remote, authenticated attacker could exploit this by mounting a Gluster volume and repeatedly calling 'setxattr(2)' to trigger a state dump and create an arbitrary number of files in the server's runtime directory.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-14659?

It affects 5 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server, Redhat Gluster File System, Redhat Virtualization, Redhat Virtualization Host.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-14659?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2018-14659 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-14659 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
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- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-14659 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-14659 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 31 Oct 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-14659 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian 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-2018-14659/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14659/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-14659
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-14659
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-14659

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14659/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.