CVE-2015-4042
Integer overflow in the keycompare_mb function in sort.c in sort in GNU Coreutils through 8.23...
Integer overflow in the keycompare_mb function in sort.c in sort in GNU Coreutils through 8.23 might allow attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via long strings.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
Integer overflow in the keycompare_mb function in sort.c in sort in GNU Coreutils through 8.23 might allow attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via long strings.
- Record
CVE-2015-4042- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 7.5 High
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-190
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
Integer overflow in the keycompare_mb function in sort.c in sort in GNU Coreutils through 8.23 might allow attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via long strings.
- Record
CVE-2015-4042- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2015-4070 No score
Integer overflow in the keycompare_mb function in sort.c in sort in GNU Coreutils through 8.23 might allow attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via long strings.
- Record
EUVD-2015-4070- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-9qcx-32pg-7pqp
Integer overflow in the keycompare_mb function in sort.c in sort in GNU Coreutils through 8.23...
Integer overflow in the keycompare_mb function in sort.c in sort in GNU Coreutils through 8.23 might allow attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via long strings.
- Record
GHSA-9qcx-32pg-7pqp- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-190
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVMGASA-2015-0259 No score
Updated coreutils package fixes security vulnerability
Buffer overflows in sort related to the usage of UTF-8 characters (CVE-2015-4041, CVE-2015-4042)
- Record
MGASA-2015-0259- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:10390-1 No score
coreutils-8.26-1.1 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the coreutils-8.26-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:10390-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2015:1637-1 No score
Security update for coreutils
This update for coreutils provides the following fixes:
- Fix memory handling error with case insensitive sort using UTF-8. (CVE-2015-4041, CVE-2015-4042)
- Ensure 'df -a' shows all remote file system entries.
- Only suppress remote mounts of separate exports with 'df --total'.
- Document that 'df -a' might list duplicated file systems.
- Adjust references to info nodes in man pages.
- Record
SUSE-SU-2015:1637-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
coreutilsMageia:4 From an advisory covering 2 CVEs |
before 8.21-6.2.mga4 | 8.21-6.2.mga4 |
coreutilsSUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 From an advisory covering 2 CVEs |
before 8.22-9.1 | 8.22-9.1 |
coreutilsSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 From an advisory covering 2 CVEs |
before 8.22-9.1 | 8.22-9.1 |
coreutilsSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 From an advisory covering 2 CVEs |
before 8.22-9.1 | 8.22-9.1 |
coreutilsopenSUSE:Tumbleweed From an advisory covering 5 CVEs |
before 8.26-1.1 | 8.26-1.1 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| affected, facts | ||
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2015-4042 is a critical vulnerability (CVSS 9.8) in Gnu Coreutils, published July 5, 2015. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 2.30%, the 83rd percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/05/15/1
github.com/pixelb/coreutils/commit/bea5e36cc876ed627bb5e0eca36fdfaa6465e940
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-4042
advisories.mageia.org/MGASA-2015-0259.html
bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16120
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lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2015-06/msg00030.html
suse.com/support/update/announcement/2015/suse-su-20151637-1
bugzilla.suse.com/866010