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Fencer Vulns
medium 5.5

CVE-2018-20651 json

A NULL pointer dereference was discovered in elf_link_add_object_symbols in elflink.c in the Binary File Descriptor (BFD) library (aka libb…

published 2019-01-01 7 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2018-13202

cvss
5.5
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.2%
EPSS 2.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 83%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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.

Patch / fix

  • binutils Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2.32.51.20190707-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2018-20651

  • binutils Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 2.30-21ubuntu1~18.04.3

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2018-20651

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 SLE Module for Package Hub 15, SLE Module for Development Tools 15, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 2.32-6.8.1
  • binutils SLE Module for Package Hub 15 SP1, SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP1, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP1 2.32-7.5.1
  • binutils SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES for SAP 12 SP4, SLES for SAP 12 SP3 +18 more 2.32-9.33.1
  • cross-ppc-binutils SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP5, SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP4 2.32-9.33.1
  • cross-spu-binutils SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP5, SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP4 2.32-9.33.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2019:2780-1SUSE-SU-2019:2779-1SUSE-SU-2019:2650-1

  • binutils openSUSE Tumbleweed 2.37-1.3
  • binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1
  • cross-rx-binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1
  • cross-arm-binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1
  • cross-avr-binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1
  • cross-ppc-binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1
  • cross-spu-binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1
  • cross-hppa-binutils openSUSE Leap 15.1 2.32-lp151.3.3.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10651-1openSUSE-SU-2019:2432-1openSUSE-SU-2019:2415-1

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-2018-20651 updated cvss 3.3

binutils: NULL pointer dereference in elf_link_add_object_symbols function resulting in a denial of service

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 binutils, mingw-binutils, mingw32-binutils, mingw64-binutils, mingw-binutils-generic
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • 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

2.25% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 83% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • sourceware.org https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=24041 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 5.5 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 2.0 4.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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.