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CVE-2018-6543: GNU Binutils 2.30 may crash on malicious ELF files

CVE-2018-6543 · published 8 years ago

Summary

The program that processes executable files (GNU Binutils version 2.30) can fail when it reads a specially crafted ELF file, causing it to allocate no memory and then crash. This can stop the application from working and could be used by an attacker to disrupt services. Update to a newer version of Binutils or avoid processing untrusted ELF files until the fix is applied.

What to do

The CVE record does not list a fixed version. Check the vendor's site or the advisory links below - a fix may already be released.

Affected software

Vendor	Product	Affected versions
gnu	binutils	2.30 `cpe:2.3:a:gnu:binutils:2.30:::::::*`

Original advisory text

In GNU Binutils 2.30, there's an integer overflow in the function load_specific_debug_section() in objdump.c, which results in `malloc()` with 0 size. A crafted ELF file allows remote attackers to ...

References

http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-10/msg00072.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00008.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/102985 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201811-17 Third Party Advisory
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=22769 Exploit Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory

Fix within

Internet-facing 14 days

Internal At next upgrade

Not known to be exploited
Needs hands-on effort to exploit (estimated)
Gives an attacker full control (estimated)

Severity

7.8 High

Exploitation

2% chance of attack within 30 days

Type

CWE-190Integer Overflow

Timeline

Published2 Feb 2018

Updated29 Oct 2026

First seen22 Aug 2026

Sources

CVE-2018-6543 · OSV

CVE-2018-6543 · NVD

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