CVE-2014-9620 — file: limit the number of ELF notes processed

MEDIUM

file: limit the number of ELF notes processed

Published Jan 21, 2015

5.0

MEDIUM

CVSS 2.0

EPSS 4.68%

The ELF parser in file 5.08 through 5.21 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a large number of notes.

Product	Package	State	Advisory
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	file-0:5.04-30.el6	Fixed	RHSA-2016:0760
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5	cdrtools	Not affected	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5	file	Will not fix	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5	php53	Not affected	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5	rpm	Will not fix	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	php	Not affected	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7	file	Will not fix	n/a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7	php	Not affected	n/a
Red Hat Software Collections	php54-php	Not affected	n/a
Red Hat Software Collections	php55-php	Not affected	n/a
Red Hat Software Collections	rh-php56-php	Not affected	n/a

No remediation recorded yet.

4.68% 0.04683

Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.

EPSS probability 0.04683

2022–2026

Table of values (14 key points)

Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.

Date	Score	Percentile	Model
Oct 1, 2026	4.68% (0.04683)	91.50th	v5 (v2026.06.15)
Jun 15, 2026	4.68% (0.04683)	90.58th	v5 (v2026.06.15)
Apr 19, 2026	7.20% (0.07200)	91.61th	v4 (v2025.03.14)
Apr 11, 2026	8.29% (0.08290)	92.25th	v4 (v2025.03.14)
Feb 28, 2026	6.50% (0.06505)	90.91th	v4 (v2025.03.14)
Mar 30, 2025	3.17% (0.03175)	85.79th	v4 (v2025.03.14)
Mar 29, 2025	5.51% (0.05511)	83.34th	v4 (v2025.03.14)
Mar 17, 2025	4.00% (0.03996)	87.65th	v4 (v2025.03.14)
Dec 12, 2024	5.49% (0.05486)	93.48th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Jul 17, 2024	6.16% (0.06163)	93.63th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Mar 7, 2023	6.13% (0.06125)	92.37th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Mar 6, 2023	2.17% (0.02172)	80.77th	v2 (v2022.01.01)
Apr 1, 2022	2.17% (0.02172)	78.91th	v2 (v2022.01.01)
Feb 4, 2022	2.17% (0.02172)	57.73th	v2 (v2022.01.01)

Weaknesses (2)

CWE-399

CWE-770

Allocation of Resources Without Limits

Link	Providers	Tags
http://advisories.mageia.org/MGASA-2015-0040.html		x_refsource_CONFIRM
http://mx.gw.com/pipermail/file/2014/001653.html		mailing-listx_refsource_MLIST
http://mx.gw.com/pipermail/file/2015/001660.html		mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTVendor Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0760.html		vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHAT
http://www.debian.org/security/2015/dsa-3121		vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIAN
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/01/17/9		mailing-listx_refsource_MLIST
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinapr2016-2952096.html		x_refsource_CONFIRM
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/71715		vdb-entryx_refsource_BID
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2014-9620		Vendor Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1180639		Issue Tracking
https://github.com/file/file/commit/ce90e05774dd77d86cfc8dfa6da57b32816841c4		x_refsource_CONFIRM
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-9620
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201503-08		vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOO
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3686-1/		vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTU
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-9620