CVE-2018-18606: debian debian_linux NULL Pointer Dereference
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2018-18606 is a medium (CVSS 5.5) NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in debian debian_linux. EPSS estimates a 2.32% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 83.1% of scored vulnerabilities. 1 public exploit is recorded.
Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 8 · Related 8Timeline
- 23-10-2018PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 05-08-2024Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
An issue was discovered in the merge_strings function in merge.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.31. There is a NULL pointer dereference in _bfd_add_merge_section when attempting to merge sections with large alignments. A specially crafted ELF allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service, as demonstrated by ld.
CVSS metrics
4 scores · 3 sources · 2 versions- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated5.5MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated5.5MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS trend
Probability
2.32%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
83%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
0.00 pp
From 2.32% on 18-09-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogsNot in any of the 3 tracked catalogs.
Public exploits
1 foundExploit Reference (sourceware.org)
Maturity: unknown
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeAffected systems
Debian2 products
- binutils< 2.32.51.20190707-1
- debian_linuxEOL7.0 | 8.0 | 9.0
Gnu1 product
- binutils2.31
Netapp1 product
Ubuntu1 product
- binutilsAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 2.26.1-1ubuntu1~16.04.8+esm1 | < 2.30-21ubuntu1~18.04.3
4 vendors · 5 products
References
12 links- sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=23806X Refsource MISCExploitIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory
