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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2017-12448 json

The bfd_cache_close function in bfd/cache.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.29 a…

published 2017-08-04 9 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2017-4020

cvss
7.8
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.0%
EPSS 2.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 80%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The bfd_cache_close function in bfd/cache.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libbfd), as distributed in GNU Binutils 2.29 and earlier, allows remote attackers to cause a heap use after free and possibly achieve code execution via a crafted nested archive file. This issue occurs because incorrect functions are called during an attempt to release memory. The issue can be addressed by better input validation in the bfd_generic_archive_p function in bfd/archive.c.

Patch / fix

  • binutils Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2.29-9

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2017-12448

  • binutils Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS 2.26.1-1ubuntu1~16.04.8+esm1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2017-12448

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • binutils SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for SAP 12 SP1 +7 more 2.29.1-9.20.2
  • cross-ppc-binutils SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP3, SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP2 2.29.1-9.20.2
  • cross-spu-binutils SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP3, SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP2 2.29.1-9.20.2

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2017:3170-1

  • binutils openSUSE Tumbleweed 2.37-1.3

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10651-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2017-12448 updated cvss 7.0

binutils: heap use after free in bfd_cache_close function

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 binutils Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 binutils Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 binutils
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

1.98% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 80% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 7.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 6.8 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.