CVE-2018-20651: gnu binutils NULL Pointer Dereference
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2018-20651 is a medium (CVSS 5.5) NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in gnu binutils. EPSS estimates a 2.25% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 82.6% of scored vulnerabilities. 1 public exploit is recorded.
Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 7 · Related 7Timeline
- 01-01-2019PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 05-08-2024Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
A NULL pointer dereference was discovered in elf_link_add_object_symbols in elflink.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.31.1. This occurs for a crafted ET_DYN with no program headers. A specially crafted ELF file 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
2.25%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
83%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
0.00 pp
From 2.25% 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
Debian1 product
- binutils< 2.32.51.20190707-1
Gnu1 product
- binutils2.31.1
Ubuntu1 product
- binutils< 2.30-21ubuntu1~18.04.3
3 vendors · 3 products
References
12 links- sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=24041X Refsource MISCExploitIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory
