GNU C Library (aka glibc) before 2.20 allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read and crash) via a…

published 2014-12-05 11 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2014-5928

cvss: 5.0; version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 6.6%; EPSS 6.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 93%
public exploits: 0; none known

GNU C Library (aka glibc) before 2.20 allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read and crash) via a multibyte character value of "0xffff" to the iconv function when converting (1) IBM933, (2) IBM935, (3) IBM937, (4) IBM939, or (5) IBM1364 encoded data to UTF-8.

Patch / fix

distros 4 links 1

debian ubuntu red hat opensuse

glibc Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2.19-12

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2014-6040

eglibc Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 2.19-0ubuntu6.4

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2014-6040

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

glibc RHEL 6 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4
nscd RHEL 6 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4
glibc-utils RHEL 6 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4
glibc-common RHEL 6 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4
glibc-debuginfo-common RHEL 6 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4
glibc RHEL 7 2.17-78.el7
nscd RHEL 7 2.17-78.el7
glibc-utils RHEL 7 2.17-78.el7

red hat advisories RHSA-2015:0016 RHSA-2015:0327

glibc openSUSE Tumbleweed 2.24-2.3

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10154-1

ubuntu.com/usn/usn-2432-1 advisory

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-2014-6040 updated 2026-11-07 cvss 2.1

glibc: crash in code page decoding functions (IBM933, IBM935, IBM937, IBM939, IBM1364)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 glibc
affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) nscd 2.17-78.el7, glibc 2.17-78.el7, glibc-utils 2.17-78.el7, glibc-common 2.17-78.el7, glibc-debuginfo-common 2.17-78.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) glibc-debuginfo-common 2.17-78.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) nscd 2.17-78.el7, glibc 2.17-78.el7, glibc-utils 2.17-78.el7, glibc-common 2.17-78.el7, glibc-debuginfo-common 2.17-78.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) glibc-debuginfo-common 2.17-78.el7
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:0327
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) nscd 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc-utils 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc-common 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc-debuginfo-common 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) glibc-debuginfo-common 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) nscd 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc-utils 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc-common 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc-debuginfo-common 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) glibc-debuginfo-common 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) nscd 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc-utils 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc-common 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc-debuginfo-common 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:0016
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) nscd 2.17-78.el7, glibc 2.17-78.el7, glibc-utils 2.17-78.el7, glibc-common 2.17-78.el7, glibc-debuginfo-common 2.17-78.el7
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:0327
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) glibc-debuginfo-common 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:0016
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) glibc-debuginfo-common 2.17-78.el7
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:0327
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) nscd 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc-utils 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc-common 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4, glibc-debuginfo-common 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:0016
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) nscd 2.17-78.el7, glibc 2.17-78.el7, glibc-utils 2.17-78.el7, glibc-common 2.17-78.el7, glibc-debuginfo-common 2.17-78.el7
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:0327

show 2 more

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) glibc-debuginfo-common 2.12-1.149.el6_6.4
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:0016
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) glibc-debuginfo-common 2.17-78.el7
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:0327

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

Exploit prediction

6.56% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 93% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

sourceware.org https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=17325 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
openwall.com http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/09/02/1 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	2.0	5.0	AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Classification

Weakness

CWE-119 Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

References

ubuntu.com /usn/usn-2432-1
vendor-advisory, patch
sourceware.org /bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=17325
exploit
openwall.com /lists/oss-security/2014/09/02/1
mailing-list, exploit
security.gentoo.org /glsa/201602-02
vendor-advisory
mandriva.com /security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2014:175
vendor-advisory
debian.org /security/2015/dsa-3142
vendor-advisory
securityfocus.com /bid/69472
vdb-entry
linux.oracle.com /errata/ELSA-2015-0016.html
sourceware.org /git/gitweb.cgi?p=glibc.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=41488498b6
openwall.com /lists/oss-security/2014/08/29/3
mailing-list
secunia.com /advisories/62100
third-party-advisory
secunia.com /advisories/62146
third-party-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2014-6040
NVD CVE-2014-6040

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.

Summary