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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 15 Jun 2022.
Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2014-3153

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2014-06-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.2.60 / 3.4.92 or later.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
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.

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 confidence

A race condition in the futex_requeue function in Linux kernel versions through 3.14.5 allows local users to gain elevated privileges by submitting a crafted FUTEX_REQUEUE command that fails to validate that source and destination futex addresses are different, enabling unsafe waiter manipulation.

MitigationApply the upstream kernel patch or upgrade to a kernel version beyond 3.14.5 that contains the fix for the futex address validation.

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
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:< 3.2.60>= 3.3, < 3.4.92>= 3.5, < 3.10.42>= 3.11, < 3.12.22>= 3.13, < 3.14.6
Enterprise Linux Server AusOperating system
Affected:= 6.2
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 12.04= 14.04
LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 5= 6
OpensuseOperating system
Affected:= 11.4
Linux Enterprise DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 11
Linux Enterprise High Availability ExtensionOperating system
Affected:= 11
Linux Enterprise Real Time ExtensionOperating system
Affected:= 11

CVSS 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
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the running kernel version
    Execute 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version' to retrieve the currently running kernel version
    Affected if The kernel version is within any of these vulnerable ranges: < 3.2.60; >= 3.3 and < 3.4.92; >= 3.5 and < 3.10.42; >= 3.11 and < 3.12.22; >= 3.13 and < 3.14.6
  2. Confirm the vulnerability is locally exploitable
    Verify local user access exists on the system. This flaw requires a local attacker to execute crafted FUTEX_REQUEUE commands
    Affected if The system allows local user access and runs a kernel version matching the affected ranges above
  3. Check for futex system call usage
    Review application behavior or audit logs for FUTEX_REQUEUE operations if available. This is a kernel-level flaw in the futex_requeue implementation rather than a configurable feature
    Affected if The system runs a vulnerable kernel version; the flaw exists in the kernel code itself regardless of specific futex usage patterns

A system is affected if it runs any Linux kernel version within the ranges listed in step 1, as the race condition in futex_requeue is present in the kernel code itself.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.2.60 / 3.4.92 / 3.10.42 or later
Fixed in 3.2.603.4.923.10.42
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Interim mitigation

Apply the upstream kernel patch or upgrade to a kernel version beyond 3.14.5 that contains the fix for the futex address validation.

Recommended fix High confidence

Kernel 3.2.60 or later (for 3.2.x), 3.4.92 or later (for 3.4.x), 3.10.42 or later (for 3.10.x), 3.12.22 or later (for 3.12.x), or 3.14.5+ (upstream stable)

  1. Identify the current kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. Download or obtain the appropriate fixed kernel package for your distribution
  3. For RHEL/CentOS/Oracle Linux: run 'yum update kernel' or 'dnf update kernel'
  4. For Ubuntu: run 'apt-get update && apt-get install linux-image-<version>'
  5. For SUSE: run 'zypper update kernel-default'
  6. Reboot the system to load the updated kernel using 'shutdown -r now' or 'reboot'
  7. Verify the new kernel version is running with 'uname -r'
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system restart and could have compatibility implications with custom modules or specific hardware drivers; test in staging first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Linux Kernel Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,950
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-3153 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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