CVE-2013-7345: The BEGIN regular expression in the awk script detector in magic/Magdir/commands in file before 5.15 uses m...

Security readout for executives and security teams

CVE-2013-7345 is a denial-of-service flaw in the Unix file identification utility before 5.15. A specially crafted text file can make its awk-script detection consume excessive CPU. Business risk is highest where untrusted files are automatically inspected, uploaded, scanned, or processed at scale. Likely exposure is systems or applications using file or libmagic before 5.15, especially services that inspect attacker-supplied files. The source bundle lists affected vendor/product as n/a, so validate through package inventories and vendor advisories rather than assuming all deployments are affected. Treat as a targeted operational resilience issue, not a breach-class vulnerability. Prioritize internet-facing upload, scanning, and processing services first. The age of available fixes lowers urgency for well-maintained systems, but stale appliances, containers, and legacy servers may still carry exposure. Mitigation focus: Inventory file and libmagic versions across servers, containers, and build images.; Upgrade to file 5.15 or a vendor-supported fixed backport.; Review Debian, Red Hat, Apple, and upstream guidance for platform-specific packages..

Prepared

Jun 14, 2026, 14:32 UTC (UTC+00:00)

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.