#VU3894 Resource exhaustion in file - CVE-2014-8117

Vulnerability identifier: #VU3894

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv4.0: 6.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear]

CVE-ID: CVE-2014-8117

CWE-ID: CWE-400

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
file
Universal components / Libraries / Libraries used by multiple products

Vendor: Ian F. Darwin

Description
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to cause DoS condition.

The weakness exists due to resource exhaustion when softmagic.c in file before 5.21 does not properly limit recursion. A remote attacker can trigger CPU consumption and cause the service to crash.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

file: 5.00 - 5.20

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External links
https://github.com/file/file/commit/6f737ddfadb596d7d4a993f7ed2141ffd664a81c

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.