KEV Intelligence

Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2014-0196

kernel Denial of Service

Linux / kernel

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Severity
CVSS 5.5 · Medium
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
22.5%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2014-0196 is a vulnerability affecting Linux kernel. The n_tty_write function in drivers/tty/n_tty.c in the Linux kernel through 3.14.3 does not properly manage tty driver access in the "LECHO & !OPOST" case,...

Is it exploited?

Yes. KEV Intelligence tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed.

Who is affected?

Linux / kernel.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

kernel Denial of Service

The n_tty_write function in drivers/tty/n_tty.c in the Linux kernel through 3.14.3 does not properly manage tty driver access in the "LECHO & !OPOST" case, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and system crash) or gain privileges by triggering a race condition involving read and write operations with long strings.

View vendor advisory (opens in new tab)
Published
07 May 2014
Exploitation Reported
12 May 2023
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None

Tags

nessus_scanner cisa linux

CVE References

  • CVE Record CVE.org · CVE Record https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-0196
  • USN-2203-1 ubuntu.com · Vendor Advisory http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2203-1
  • SUSE-SU-2014:0683 lists.opensuse.org · Vendor Advisory http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2014-05/msg00012...
  • USN-2204-1 ubuntu.com · Vendor Advisory http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2204-1
  • USN-2202-1 ubuntu.com · Vendor Advisory http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2202-1
  • DSA-2928 debian.org · Vendor Advisory http://www.debian.org/security/2014/dsa-2928
  • USN-2199-1 ubuntu.com · Vendor Advisory http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2199-1
  • USN-2197-1 ubuntu.com · Vendor Advisory http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2197-1
  • RHSA-2014:0512 rhn.redhat.com · Vendor Advisory http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-0512.html
  • DSA-2926 debian.org · Vendor Advisory http://www.debian.org/security/2014/dsa-2926
  • SUSE-SU-2014:0667 lists.opensuse.org · Vendor Advisory http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2014-05/msg00007...
  • USN-2198-1 ubuntu.com · Vendor Advisory http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2198-1
  • USN-2200-1 ubuntu.com · Vendor Advisory http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2200-1
  • USN-2201-1 ubuntu.com · Vendor Advisory http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2201-1
  • USN-2196-1 ubuntu.com · Vendor Advisory http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2196-1
  • 59262 secunia.com · Third-Party Advisory http://secunia.com/advisories/59262
  • 59218 secunia.com · Third-Party Advisory http://secunia.com/advisories/59218
  • 59599 secunia.com · Third-Party Advisory http://secunia.com/advisories/59599
  • 33516 exploit-db.com · Exploit http://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/33516
  • 106646 osvdb.org · VDB Entry http://www.osvdb.org/106646
  • [oss-security] 20140429 CVE-2014-0196: Linux kernel pty layer race condition memory corruption openwall.com · Mailing List http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/05/05/6
  • support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/15000/300/sol15319... support.f5.com · CVE Record http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/15000/300/sol15319.html
  • linux.oracle.com/errata/ELSA-2014-0771.html linux.oracle.com · CVE Record http://linux.oracle.com/errata/ELSA-2014-0771.html
  • bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi bugzilla.redhat.com · CVE Record https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1094232
  • source.android.com/security/bulletin/2016-07-01.html source.android.com · CVE Record http://source.android.com/security/bulletin/2016-07-01.html
  • GitHub — torvalds/linux github.com · CVE Record https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/4291086b1f081b869c6d79e5b744...
  • pastebin.com/raw.php pastebin.com · CVE Record http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=yTSFUBgZ
  • git.kernel.org git.kernel.org · CVE Record http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=...
  • bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi bugzilla.novell.com · CVE Record http://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=875690

Exploitation evidence

Why KEV Intelligence marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 12 May 2023

Independent exploitation attestation added to the KEV Intelligence record.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEV Intelligence Pro API.

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Source Added
CISA First 2023-05-12 00:00 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
0
User-Agents
0

Raw values available in Pro and Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No KEV Intelligence virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Nessus https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/124986 02 Jun 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

5.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS

22.5%

Weaknesses

Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition') CWE-362

All CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1 5.5 Medium

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS v2.0 6.9 Medium

AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. Nessus plugin available

    Scanner coverage available

  2. Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  3. CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  4. CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2014-0196

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2014-0196",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 5.5,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.22475,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}

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