Any way to solve version `GLIBC_2.17' not found?

After an upgrade, most of the programs reasonably stopped running or refuse to run with the message "/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.17' not found", ls, apt-get, insmod, networking modules.....
so now I lost networking , it does not recognize usb sticks.
Am I right to assume that the only solution is to boot from USB and then overwrite the current version with a more recent one ?

EDIT : I use Ubuntu 14.04, the problem happened after apt-get upgrade, I don't know precisely from what version to what version the glibc was upgraded, probably from something to 2.17
I don't need a step by step guide, just directions.
EDIT :

All programs depending on libc do not work anymore.

USB sticks are not recognized, the usb modules don't work, they must depend on libc, no change in syslog from the system when a USB stick is inserted.

Solution 1:

Where I messed up:

I was trying to install some library that depended on glibc 2.15, and so I installed glibc 2.15 with dpkg and thus overwriting my system's version which it was 2.19. The vast majority of linux programs depend on glibc and since they were built with 2.19, they got angry with me and stopped working, commands like ls, apt-get, aptitude, ping, ifconfig and insmod...

How I fixed it:

1. I boot from a USB stick, downloaded all the packages related to glic 2.19, there is a red point for the packages on which depend glibc.

2. mounted the partition:

   mount /dev/sdax /mnt

3. extracted the contents of these packages in root:

   dpkg -x foo_bar.deb /mnt

4. updated the ld cache:

   ldconfig -r /mnt

5. reboot