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Fencer Intel
high 7.2

CVE-2014-3631 json

The assoc_array_gc function in the associative-array implementation in lib/assoc_array.c in the Linux kernel before 3.16.3 does not properl…

published 2014-09-28 12 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2014-3589

cvss
7.2
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.0%
EPSS 1.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 61%
public exploits
1
Exploit-DB

Summary

The assoc_array_gc function in the associative-array implementation in lib/assoc_array.c in the Linux kernel before 3.16.3 does not properly implement garbage collection, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and system crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via multiple "keyctl newring" operations followed by a "keyctl timeout" operation.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 3.14.19, 3.16.3
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 3.16.3-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2014-3631

  • linux Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.13.0-37.64

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2014-3631

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel RHEL 7 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7
  • perf RHEL 7 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7
  • python-perf RHEL 7 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 7 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7
  • kernel-tools RHEL 7 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7
  • kernel-tools-libs RHEL 7 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7
  • kernel-bootwrapper RHEL 7 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7
  • kernel-abi-whitelists RHEL 7 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7

red hat advisories RHSA-2014:1971

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2014-3631 updated cvss 4.9

kernel: keys: incorrect termination condition in assoc array garbage collection

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) python-perf 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) python-perf 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-bootwrapper 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, +4 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) python-perf 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7
    +2 more products
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) python-perf 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-123.13.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2014:1971
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 kernel-rt, mrg-rt-release, kernel-rt-trace, kernel-rt-vanilla, kernel-rt-firmware
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. First public exploit (EDB-36268)

Exploit prediction

0.96% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 61% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • EDB-36268 Linux Kernel 3.16.3 - Associative Array Garbage Collection Crash (PoC) dos, 2015-03-04
  • github.com https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/95389b08d93d5c06ec63ab49bd732b0069b7c35e referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • kernel.org http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.16.3 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 7.2 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Classification

Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.