Is CVE-2014-3538 being actively exploited?

CVE-2014-3538 is not currently listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2014-3538?

CVE-2014-3538 has a CVSS 2.0 base score of 5.0 (MEDIUM).

CVE-2014-3538

MEDIUM · CVSS 5.0EPSS 11.8%EU EUVD

file before 5.19 does not properly restrict the amount of data read during a regex search, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via a crafted file that triggers backtracking during processing of an awk rule. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2013-7345.

Key facts

CVSS score: 5.0 (v2.0)
Severity: MEDIUM
CVSS vector: AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
Weakness (CWE): CWE-399
EPSS score: 11.8% (96th percentile)
In CISA KEV: No
In EU EUVD: Yes (EUVD-2014-3533)
Published: July 3, 2014
NVD last modified: June 17, 2026
Status: Modified

EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD)

This vulnerability is also tracked by ENISA as EUVD-2014-3533 in the EU Vulnerability Database. Last updated in EUVD on August 6, 2024.

View on the EU Vulnerability Database

Affected products

christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
christos zoulas / file
debian / debian linux
debian / debian linux
php / php

References

http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2015/Apr/msg00001.html(Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://mx.gw.com/pipermail/file/2014/001553.html(Broken Link)
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/06/30/7(Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1327.html(Third Party Advisory)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1765.html(Third Party Advisory)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1766.html(Third Party Advisory)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0760.html(Third Party Advisory)
http://secunia.com/advisories/60696(Third Party Advisory)
http://www.debian.org/security/2014/dsa-3008(Third Party Advisory)
http://www.debian.org/security/2014/dsa-3021(Third Party Advisory)
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2017-3236626.html(Patch, Third Party Advisory)
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinjan2015-2370101.html(Third Party Advisory)
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinapr2016-2952096.html(Third Party Advisory)
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinoct2015-2719645.html(Third Party Advisory)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/68348(Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1098222(Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory)
https://github.com/file/file/commit/4a284c89d6ef11aca34da65da7d673050a5ea320(Exploit, Patch, Third Party Advisory)
https://github.com/file/file/commit/69a5a43b3b71f53b0577f41264a073f495799610(Patch, Third Party Advisory)
https://github.com/file/file/commit/71a8b6c0d758acb0f73e2e51421a711b5e9d6668(Exploit, Patch, Third Party Advisory)
https://github.com/file/file/commit/74cafd7de9ec99a14f4480927580e501c8f852c3(Exploit, Patch, Third Party Advisory)
https://github.com/file/file/commit/758e066df72fb1ac08d2eea91ddc3973d259e991(Exploit, Patch, Third Party Advisory)
https://support.apple.com/HT204659(Third Party Advisory)

Last updated September 17, 2026 · Source: NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org EPSS

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