Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2014-4171


mm/shmem.c in the Linux kernel through 3.15.1 does not properly implement the interaction between range notification and hole punching, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (i_mutex hold) by using the mmap system call to access a hole, as demonstrated by interfering with intended shmem activity by blocking completion of (1) an MADV_REMOVE madvise call or (2) an FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE fallocate call.


Security Impact Summary

CVE-2014-4171 is a security vulnerability that . Impacting 2 products from linux, from canonical organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Documented in 2014, this vulnerability occurred amid the cloud computing expansion era, where traditional network perimeter security models were being reevaluated. Organizations were transitioning from isolated infrastructure to interconnected systems, creating new attack surfaces that vulnerabilities like this could exploit.


Published

2014-06-23T11:21:20.403

Last Modified

2025-04-12T10:46:40.837

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv2: 4.7 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

  • Access Vector: LOCAL
  • Access Complexity: MEDIUM
  • Authentication: NONE
  • Confidentiality Impact: NONE
  • Integrity Impact: NONE
  • Availability Impact: COMPLETE
Exploitability Score

3.4

Impact Score

6.9

Weaknesses
  • Type: Primary
    NVD-CWE-Other

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Operating System linux linux_kernel ≤ 3.15.1 Yes
Operating System canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 Yes

References

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For linux's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.