What is CVE-2015-4156?

CVE-2015-4156 is a vulnerability in GNU Parallel, classified under Improper Link Resolution Before File Access. Published 2015-06-02.

Is CVE-2015-4156 known to be exploited?

1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Vulnerability in GNU Parallel

CVE-2015-4156

GNU Parallel before 20150522 (Nepal), when using (1) --cat or (2) --fifo with --sshlogin, allows local users to write to arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a temporary file.

Published 2015-06-02 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v2 metric

CVSS v2 base score 3.6 (Low). Vector: AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P. This CVE predates CVSS v3 and has no v3 score from NVD.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (28.7th percentile), scored 2026-10-01.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 29th percentile — 28.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.004 · change: 0.000

Affected products

GNU Parallel
openSUSE — versions 13.1, 13.2

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-59 — Improper Link Resolution Before File Access

Public proof-of-concept exploits

ARPSyndicate/cvemon

References

lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2015-05/msg00090.html (vendor-advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/74961 (vdb-entry)
lists.gnu.org/archive/html/parallel/2015-04/msg00045.html (Vendor Advisory, mailing-list)
lists.gnu.org/archive/html/parallel/2015-05/msg00024.html (Vendor Advisory, mailing-list)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2015-4156?: CVE-2015-4156 is a vulnerability in GNU Parallel, classified under Improper Link Resolution Before File Access. Published 2015-06-02.
Is CVE-2015-4156 known to be exploited?: 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.