CVE-2015-8954
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 · uneditedThe MemcmpLowercase function in Suricata before 2.0.6 improperly excludes the first byte from comparisons, which might allow remote attackers to bypass intrusion-prevention functionality via a crafted HTTP request.
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 confidenceThe MemcmpLowercase function in Suricata versions before 2.0.6 has a logic flaw that excludes the first byte from string comparisons. This allows attackers to craft HTTP requests that evade detection by the intrusion-prevention system, potentially passing malicious traffic through undetected.
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<= 2.0.5CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine installed Suricata versionRun 'suricata --version' or check your package manager for the installed suricata package versionAffected if Version is 2.0.5 or earlier (any version up to and including 2.0.5)
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Confirm Suricata is running in IPS/IDS mode with detection enabledReview the suricata.yaml configuration file and check if the 'capture' or 'IPS' mode is active, and verify that rule-based detection is not disabledAffected if Suricata is actively inspecting traffic using detection rules (this is the default mode)
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Verify HTTP detection signatures are loadedCheck if any HTTP-related rules or signatures are enabled in your ruleset (look for files like 'rules/http*.rules' or HTTP keywords in your active rule files)Affected if HTTP detection rules or signatures are loaded and active in Suricata
Your environment is affected if Suricata version 2.0.5 or earlier is installed and actively running with HTTP traffic inspection enabled.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade Suricata to version 2.0.6 or later to patch the comparison function logic. Additionally, implement compensating controls such as additional filtering layers or WAF rules until the upgrade can be applied.
Suricata 2.0.6 or later (ideally latest stable release)
- Download and install Suricata version 2.0.6 or later from the official Suricata repository or your distribution's package manager
- Verify the installed version matches or exceeds 2.0.6 using 'suricata --version'
- Restart the Suricata service to load the updated binary
- Review the Suricata update logs to confirm the version upgrade was successful
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $1,904.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-8954 — 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-2015-8954 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