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FishApplication · Fishshell

CVE-2014-3856

HIGH · 7.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-01-28
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.1.1 or later.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

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 funced function in fish (aka fish-shell) 1.23.0 before 2.1.1 does not properly create temporary files, which allows local users to gain privileges via a temporary file with a predictable name.

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

The funced function in fish-shell versions 1.23.0 through 2.1.0 creates temporary files with predictable names in an insecure manner, allowing a local unprivileged user to potentially escalate privileges by exploiting a time-of-check-time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition around temp file creation.

MitigationUpgrade fish-shell to version 2.1.1 or later which implements secure temporary file creation using proper methods (e.g., mkstemp or equivalent).

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
FishApplication
Affected:>= 1.23.0, < 2.1.1

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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. Check if fish-shell is installed
    Run `fish --version` to retrieve the installed fish-shell version
    Affected if The command fails or fish is not installed (not affected)
  2. Verify the installed version number
    Parse the version output from `fish --version` (e.g., output like 'fish, version 2.1.0')
    Affected if No version number is returned
  3. Compare version to affected range
    Determine if the installed version is >= 1.23.0 and < 2.1.1
    Affected if Version falls within 1.23.0 through 2.1.0 (inclusive)
  4. Check if the funced function is accessible
    Run `type funced` or `which funced` to verify the funced builtin or function exists in the environment
    Affected if funced is available and the fish version is in the affected range

You are affected if fish-shell is installed and its version is 1.23.0, 1.24.x, 1.25.x, 2.0.x, 2.1.0, or any version between 1.23.0 and 2.1.0.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.1.1 or later
Fixed in 2.1.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade fish-shell to version 2.1.1 or later which implements secure temporary file creation using proper methods (e.g., mkstemp or equivalent).

Fix this in Fish Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

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

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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-2014-3856 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