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CVE-2014-6278

8.8, high Known exploited

GNU Bash OS Command Injection Vulnerability

NVD (opens in a new tab) CVE.org (opens in a new tab) CISA KEV catalogue (opens in a new tab)
CVSS
8.8, high high CVSS v3.1
EPSS, next 30 days
100% higher than 99.9% of scored CVEs
Exploitation
Confirmed in the wild
Published
30 Sept 201412 years ago

Known exploited

CISA added this to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog on 2 Oct 2025. US federal agencies had to remediate by 23 Oct 2025, a deadline that has passed.

Required action. Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Description

GNU Bash through 4.3 bash43-026 does not properly parse function definitions in the values of environment variables, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a crafted environment, as demonstrated by vectors involving the ForceCommand feature in OpenSSH sshd, the mod_cgi and mod_cgid modules in the Apache HTTP Server, scripts executed by unspecified DHCP clients, and other situations in which setting the environment occurs across a privilege boundary from Bash execution. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2014-6271, CVE-2014-7169, and CVE-2014-6277.

Details

Vendor
GNU
Product
Bash
Weakness
CWE-78 (opens in a new tab)
Status
Analyzed
Updated
17 Jun 2026
Assigner
security@debian.org

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

References 111

Exploit code 4

Patches and fixes 1

Advisories 67

59 more

Other references 39

31 more

The kind is read from NVD's tags where present and from the shape of the URL otherwise, so treat it as a hint.

Other GNU CVEs

Every GNU CVE we hold

Same vendor in what we hold, not a known link between the flaws.

  • CVE-2026-24061 GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Vulnerability KEV EPSS 99% 9.8, critical
  • CVE-2023-4911 GNU C Library Buffer Overflow Vulnerability KEV EPSS 64% 7.8, high
  • CVE-2014-7169 GNU Bourne-Again Shell (Bash) Arbitrary Code Execution Vulnerability KEV EPSS 100% 9.8, critical
  • CVE-2014-6271 GNU Bourne-Again Shell (Bash) Arbitrary Code Execution Vulnerability KEV EPSS 100% 9.8, critical

Beyond this page

Is CVE-2014-6278 in your network?

This page tells you how dangerous CVE-2014-6278 is out there. Whether it sits on one of your devices, only a scan of your own network can tell. That is what our systems do, every day, for the companies we protect.

CVE-2014-6278 is in the CISA catalogue of exploited vulnerabilities: attackers are already exploiting it.

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Check your exposure

Assembled from the NVD 2.0 API, the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog and FIRST EPSS. Scores are as of our last collection on 16 Oct 2026, not the live upstream state.