How severe is CVE-2015-4041?

CVE-2015-4041 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.8, rated high severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.

Is CVE-2015-4041 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (41st percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2015-4041?

CVE-2015-4041 affects Gnu Coreutils. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.

How do I fix CVE-2015-4041?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.

When was CVE-2015-4041 published?

CVE-2015-4041 was published on 2020-01-24 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2015-4041

CVE-2015-4041 is a high-severity vulnerability in Gnu Coreutils with a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.8. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-787.

Key facts

Severity: High (CVSS 3.x base score 7.8)
CVSS v2: 4.6
EPSS exploit prediction: 1% (41st percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-787
Affected product: Gnu Coreutils
Published: 2020-01-24
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

The keycompare_mb function in sort.c in sort in GNU Coreutils through 8.23 on 64-bit platforms performs a size calculation without considering the number of bytes occupied by multibyte characters, which allows attackers to cause a denial of service (heap-based buffer overflow and application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via long UTF-8 strings.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2015-4041?: The keycompare_mb function in sort.c in sort in GNU Coreutils through 8.23 on 64-bit platforms performs a size calculation without considering the number of bytes occupied by multibyte characters, which allows attackers to cause a denial of service (heap-based buffer overflow and application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via long UTF-8 strings.
How severe is CVE-2015-4041?: CVE-2015-4041 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.8, rated high severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.
Is CVE-2015-4041 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (41st percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2015-4041?: CVE-2015-4041 affects Gnu Coreutils. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
How do I fix CVE-2015-4041?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
When was CVE-2015-4041 published?: CVE-2015-4041 was published on 2020-01-24 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (1)

cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:*:*:*:*:*:*:x64:*

More vulnerabilities in Gnu Coreutils

CVE-2015-4042 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Integer overflow in the keycompare_mb function in sort.c in sort in GNU Coreutils through 8.23 might allow attackers to…
CVE-2014-9471 — High (CVSS 7.5): The parse_datetime function in GNU coreutils allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly…
CVE-2017-18018 — High (CVSS 7.1): In GNU Coreutils through 8.29, chown-core.c in chown and chgrp does not prevent replacement of a plain file with a…
CVE-2024-0684 — Medium (CVSS 5.5): A flaw was found in the GNU coreutils "split" program. A heap overflow with user-controlled data of multiple hundred…
CVE-2015-1865 — Medium (CVSS 5.1): fts.c in coreutils 8.4 allows local users to delete arbitrary files.
CVE-2016-2781 — Medium (CVSS 4.6): chroot in GNU coreutils, when used with --userspec, allows local users to escape to the parent session via a crafted…

All CVEs affecting Gnu Coreutils →

Other CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write) vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-42369 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): GV-VMS V20 is a Video Monitoring Software used to gather the feeds of many surveillance cameras and manage other…
CVE-2026-4746 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability in timeplus-io proton (base/poco/Foundation/src‎ modules). This vulnerability is…
CVE-2025-43300 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed with improved bounds checking. This issue is fixed in iOS 15.8.5 and iPadOS…
CVE-2025-24201 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed with improved checks to prevent unauthorized actions. This issue is fixed in…
CVE-2024-42479 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): llama.cpp provides LLM inference in C/C++. The unsafe `data` pointer member in the `rpc_tensor` structure can cause…
CVE-2024-39791 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Stack-based buffer overflow vulnerabilities affecting Vonets industrial wifi bridge relays and wifi bridge…

Browse all CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write) vulnerabilities →