CVE-2014-3153 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) vulnerability. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-05-25) — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
Exploitation Status
Actively exploited in the wild
- Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-05-25. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-06-15.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2014-3153.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2014-3153 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 395,249 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 10–50% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Description
The futex_requeue function in kernel/futex.c in the Linux kernel through 3.14.5 does not ensure that calls have two different futex addresses, which allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted FUTEX_REQUEUE command that facilitates unsafe waiter modification.
Affected Products
ubuntu linuxcanonicallinux kernellinuxopensuseopensuselinuxoracleenterprise linux server ausredhatlinux enterprise desktopsuseResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Linux Kernel 3.14.5 (CentOS 7 / RHEL) - 'libfutex' Local Privilege Escalation
by Kaiqu Chen · Nov 25, 2014
Detection & mitigation playbook
VulnerabilityDetect
Identify every host running the affected component and compare the installed build against the fixed version below — for source-built or distro-packaged software the version string, not a lockfile, is the source of truth (`dpkg -l`, `rpm -q`, or the binary's own `--version`).
Remediation status
No fixed release is recorded for CVE-2014-3153 yet. Track the upstream advisory, and apply the exposure-reduction steps below in the meantime.
Mitigate without a patch
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This issue did not affect the versions of the Linux kernel packages as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. This issue requires local system access to be exploited. We are currently not aware of any working exploit for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 or Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | kernel-0:2.6.32-431.20.3.el6 | RHSA-2014:0771 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 Advanced Update Support | kernel-0:2.6.32-220.52.1.el6 | RHSA-2014:0800 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 Extended Update Support | kernel-0:2.6.32-358.46.1.el6 | RHSA-2014:0900 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | kernel-0:3.10.0-123.4.2.el7 | RHSA-2014:0786 |
| Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 | kernel-rt-0:3.10.33-rt32.43.el6rt | RHSA-2014:0913 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2014-3153 in your dependencies?
Find it across , including transitive dependencies.