CVE-2015-8985

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.9 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 2.9% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2017-03-20 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-19

Description

The pop_fail_stack function in the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6) allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (assertion failure and application crash) via vectors related to extended regular expression processing.

Affected products

GNU C Library (glibc): before 2.28 — fixed in 2.28

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: GNU C Library (glibc) 2.28. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/02/14/9
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/76916
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=779392
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201908-06
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/02/14/9
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/76916
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=779392
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201908-06

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