UbuntuOperating system · Canonical
CVE-2014-1949
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedGTK+ 3.10.9 and earlier, as used in cinnamon-screensaver, gnome-screensaver, and other applications, allows physically proximate attackers to bypass the lock screen by pressing the menu button.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceGTK+ 3.10.9 and earlier contains a vulnerability in the screen lock handling where pressing the menu button during the locked state can bypass the authentication screen, allowing unauthorized physical access to the desktop environment.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
UbuntuOperating system
= 14.04= 17.0<= 3.10.9CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed GTK+ versionRun 'pkg-config --modversion gtk+-3.0' or 'dpkg -l | grep libgtk-3' on Debian/Ubuntu-based systems, or 'rpm -qa | grep gtk' on RPM-based systemsAffected if The installed GTK+3 version is 3.10.9 or lower
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Identify screen lock application in useCheck which screensaver package is installed: 'dpkg -l | grep -E "(cinnamon-screensaver|gnome-screensaver|xscreensaver)" on Debian/Ubuntu, or 'rpm -qa | grep -E "(cinnamon-screensaver|gnome-screensaver)"' on RPM-based systemsAffected if cinnamon-screensaver, gnome-screensaver, or another GTK+-based screen lock is installed and active
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Verify OS version matches affected releasesRun 'lsb_release -a' or check /etc/os-release to identify the specific Ubuntu or Linux Mint versionAffected if Running Ubuntu 14.04 or Linux Mint 17.0, which ship with vulnerable GTK+ versions
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Confirm screen lock uses GTK+ componentsInspect the screen lock application binary dependencies: 'ldd $(which gnome-screensaver)' or 'ldd $(which cinnamon-screensaver)' and look for libgtk-3.so referencesAffected if The screen lock application links against libgtk-3 and the GTK+ version is 3.10.9 or lower
A system is affected if it runs GTK+ version 3.10.9 or earlier AND uses a GTK+-based screen lock application (cinnamon-screensaver or gnome-screensaver) on Ubuntu 14.04 or Linux Mint 17.0.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade GTK+ to a version newer than 3.10.9, or apply vendor-specific patches to cinnamon-screensaver, gnome-screensaver, and other affected screen lock applications.
Fix this in Ubuntu
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-1949 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-1949 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data