CVE-2014-9651
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 · uneditedBuffer overflow in CHICKEN 4.9.0.x before 4.9.0.2, 4.9.x before 4.9.1, and before 5.0 allows attackers to have unspecified impact via a positive START argument to the "substring-index[-ci] procedures."
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 confidenceBuffer overflow in CHICKEN Scheme interpreter's substring-index and substring-index-ci procedures allows attackers to cause undefined behavior via a positive START argument that exceeds bounds, potentially enabling code execution or denial of service.
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= 4.9.0= 4.9.0.1= 4.10.0CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
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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Identify if CHICKEN Scheme is installedRun 'chicken-version' on the command line or check for chicken library files in standard locations (e.g., /usr/lib/chicken/, /usr/local/lib/)Affected if CHICKEN Scheme interpreter is present on the system
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Determine installed CHICKEN versionExecute 'chicken-version' or check the chicken library binary (often named libchicken.so or libchicken.a) using 'chicken-version' from the chicken-tools packageAffected if Version is 4.9.0, 4.9.0.1, or 4.10.0 (exact matches to affected versions)
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Identify applications using substring-index or substring-index-ciSearch source code repositories for usage of 'substring-index' or 'substring-index-ci' procedures in Scheme codeAffected if Code uses either substring-index or substring-index-ci procedures
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Verify if START argument can exceed string boundsReview code paths where substring-index/substring-index-ci are called with user-controlled or dynamic START values, checking if bounds checking is performed before the callAffected if Applications pass START arguments that could exceed the target string length without validation
A system is affected if CHICKEN Scheme version 4.9.0, 4.9.0.1, or 4.10.0 is installed AND applications using substring-index or substring-index-ci can pass START arguments exceeding string bounds.
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 CHICKEN to version 4.9.0.2, 4.9.1, 5.0 or later. Identify and rebuild all applications and libraries linked against vulnerable CHICKEN versions to incorporate the patched library.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $12,352.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-9651 — 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-2014-9651 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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- 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
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