#VU38977 Type conversion in Binutils - CVE-2017-9042

Vulnerability identifier: #VU38977

Vulnerability risk: High

CVSSv4.0: 6.1 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Amber]

CVE-ID: CVE-2017-9042

CWE-ID: CWE-704

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

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

Vendor: GNU

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote non-authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code.

readelf.c in GNU Binutils 2017-04-12 has a "cannot be represented in type long" issue, which might allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted ELF file.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Binutils: 2.28

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External links
https://blogs.gentoo.org/ago/2017/05/12/binutils-multiple-crashes/
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201709-02
https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=7296a62a2a237f6b1ad8db8c38b090e9f592c8cf

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.