#VU16344 Memory leak in Binutils - CVE-2018-20002

Vulnerability identifier: #VU16344

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv4.0: 1.9 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/U:Clear]

CVE-ID: CVE-2018-20002

CWE-ID: CWE-401

Exploitation vector: Local

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Binutils
Universal components / Libraries / Libraries used by multiple products

Vendor: GNU

Description

The vulnerability allows a local attacker to cause DoS condition on the target system.

The vulnerability exists due to memory leak in the _bfd_generic_read_minisymbols function in syms.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils. A local attacker can send specially crafted ELF file, consume excessive resources and cause the service to crash.

Mitigation
Update to version 2.31.1.

Vulnerable software versions

Binutils: 2.31

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External links
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=23952

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability. However, proof of concept for this vulnerability is available.